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FLETCHERISM 

What  it  is 


Horace  Fletcher 


A,B.  C,  Life  Serie. 


s 


wrffimiwfwuwiwnfw«OTritiwtmwfrHmifrffWi(n<fHifMiiiMiiiiiiiitifiMM^^ 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

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http://www.archive.org/details/fletcherismwhatiOOfletrich 


FLETCHERISM:    WHAT  IT  IS 


HORACE  Fletcher's  works 


THE  A.B.-Z.  OF  OUR  OWN  NUTRITION. 

Thirty-fourth  thousand.     462  pp. 
THE   NEW   MENTICULTURE;  or,  The 

A-B-C    OF    True    Living.      Fifty-third 

thousand.     310  pp. 
THE   NEW  GLUTTON   OR   EPICURE; 

OR,   Economic   Nutrition.     Eighteenth 

thousand.     344  pp. 
HAPPINESS   AS  FOUND  IN   Forethought 

MINUS  Fearthought.  Fifteenth  thousand. 

251  pp. 
THAT  LAST  WAIF;   or,  Social  Quaran- 
tine.    Sixth  thousand.     270  pp. 

FLETCHERISM:  What  It  Is;  or,  How 
I  Became  Young  at  Sixty.  Fourth 
thousand.     240  pp. 


The  Author 


FLETCHERISM 

WHAT  IT  IS 

OR 

HOW   I    BECAME   YOUNG 
AT   SIXTY 


,BY 

HORACE   FLETCHER,   A.M. 

Fellow  American  Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science 


THIRD  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

FREDERICK  A.   STOKES   COMPANY 

PUBLISUERS 


COPYRIGHT,     I913,    BY 
HORACE    FLETCHER 


/^x^-i-ouirhi 


□ 


SepCeniber,"  ig^j  ^  > 


THE- PLIMPTON*PRE88 
NORWOOD«MA8S«U'S'A 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

INTRODUCTION ix 

PREFACE xi 

I    HOW  I  BECAME  A  FLETCHERITE  .  i 

II    SCIENTIFIC  TESTS iS 

III  WHAT      I      AM      ASKED      ABOUT 

FLETCHERISM 32 

IV  RULES    OF    FLETCHERISM     ...     51 
V    WHAT  IS  PROPER  MASTICATION?    64 

VI    WHAT  IS  HEAD  DIGESTION?     .     .     n 

VII    CHITTENDEN         ON         CAREFUL 

CHEWING 84 

VIII    THE    THREE     INCHES     OF     PER- 
SONAL  RESPONSIBILITY    ...    91 

IX    QUESTION     PRESCRIPTION     AND 

PROSCRIPTION         104 

X    WHAT  CONSTITUTES  A  FLETCH- 
ERITE       116 

XI    ALL       DECENT       EATERS       ARE 

FLETCHERITES 126 

XII    FLETCHERIZING    AS    A    TEMPER- 
ANCE EXPEDIENT 138 

XIII  THE  MENACE  OF  MODERN  MIXED 

MENUS 158 

XIV  THE  CRUX  OF  FLETCHERISM    .     .  170 

XV    FLETCHERISM     AND     VEGETARI- 
ANISM      180 

APPENDIX 197 

INDEX 221 

[V] 


392203 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Author Frontispiece 


The  Author  Testing  His  Endurance  by  Means 
of  the  Kellogg  Mercurial  Dynamometer     .     .     i6 

The  Author  Undergoing  a  Test  at  Yale  When 
He  Made  a  World's  Record  on  the  Irving 
Fisher   Endurance   Testing   Machine     ...     28 

The  Author  Feeling  Himself  to  Be  the  Most 
Fortunate   Person  Alive 70 

Horace  Fletcher  in  His  Master  of  Arts  Robes    .     98 

The  Author,  on  his  Sixtieth  Birthday,  Perform- 
ing Feats  of  Agility  and  Strength  which 
Would  Be  Remarkable  Even  in  a  Young 
Athlete        100 


[vii] 


INTRODUCTION 

Fletcherism  has  become  a  fact 
A  dozen  years  ago  it  was  laughed  at 
as  the  "chew-chew"  cult;  to-day  the 
most  famous  men  of  Science  endorse  it 
and  teach  its  principles.  Scientific 
leaders  at  the  world's  foremost  Univer- 
sities— Cambridge,  England ;  Turin, 
Italy;  Berne,  Switzerland;  La  Sor- 
bonne,  France;  Berlin,  Prussia;  Brus- 
sels, Belgium;  St.  Petersburg,  Russia; 
as  well  as  Harvard,  Yale  and  Johns 
Hopkins  in  America — have  shown 
themselves  in  complete  accord  with  Mr. 
Fletcher's  teachings. 

The  intention  of  the  present  volume 
is  that  it  shall  stand  as  a  compact  state- 
ment of  the  Gospel  of  Fletcherism, 
whereas  his  other  volumes  treat  the 
subject  more  at  length  and  are  devoted 
to  different  phases  of  Mr.  Fletcher's 
philosophy.  The  author  here  relates 
[ix] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

briefly  the  story  of  his  regeneration,  of 
how  he  rescued  himself  from  the  pros- 
pect of  an  early  grave,  and  brought 
himself  to  his  present  splendid  physical 
and  mental  condition.  He  tells  of  the 
discovery  of  his  principles,  which  have 
helped  millions  of  people  to  live  better, 
happier,  and  healthier  lives. 

Mr.  Fletcher  writes  with  all  his  well- 
known  literary  charm  and  vivacity, 
which  have  won  for  his  works  such  a 
wide-spread  popular  demand. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  intelligent 
reader  will  peruse  this  work  without 
becoming  convinced  that  Mr.  Fletcher's 
principles  as  to  eating  and  living  are 
the  sanest  that  have  ever  been  pro- 
pounded; that  Fletcherism  demands  no 
heroic  sacrifices  of  the  enjoyments  that 
go  to  make  life  worth  living,  but,  to  the 
contrary,  that  the  path  to  Dietetic 
Righteousness,  which  Mr.  Fletcher 
would  have  us  tread,  must  be  the  pleas- 
antest  of  all  life's  pleasant  ways. 

THE   PUBLISHERS 


PREFACE 

'What  is  good  for  the  richest  man  in  the  world, 
must  he  also  good  for  the  poorest,  and  all  in  be- 
tween."   Daily  Express,  London,  May  isth,  1913. 

This  quotation  was  apropos  of  an 
announcement  in  the  Evening  Mail,  of 
New  York,  telling  that  the  Twentieth 
Century  Croesus  and  financial  philoso- 
pher, John  D.  Rockefeller,  had  uttered 
a  Confession  of  his  Faith  in  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  Dietetic  Righteous- 
ness and  General  Efficiency  as  follows: 

'*Don't  gobble  your  food.  Fletcher- 
ize,  or  chew  very  slowly  while  you  eat. 
Talk  on  pleasant  topics.  Don't  be  in  a 
hurry.  Take  time  to  masticate  and 
cultivate  a  cheerful  appetite  while  you 
eat.  So  will  the  demon  indigestion  be 
encompassed  round  about  and  his 
slaughter  complete." 

At  the  time  this  compendium  of  phys- 
[xi] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

iological  and  psychological  wisdom 
concerning  the  source  of  health,  com- 
fort, and  happiness  came  to  my  notice 
J  was  engaged  in  furnishing  my  pub- 
lishers with  a  "compact  statement  of 
the  Gospel  of  Fletcherism,"  as  they  call 
it,  and  hence  the  able  assistance  of  Mr. 
Rockefeller  was  welcomed  most  cor- 
dially. Here  it  was  in  a  nutshell,  crys- 
tallized, compact,  refined,  monopolized 
as  to  brevity  of  description,  masterly, 
and  practically  leaving  little  more  to  be 
said. 

The  Grand  Old  Man  of  Democracy 
in  England,  William  Ewart  Gladstone, 
had  had  his  say  on  the  same  subject 
some  years  before,  and  will  be  known  to 
the  future  of  physiological  fitness  more 
permanently  on  account  of  his  glorifi- 
cation of  Head  Digestion  of  food  than 
for  his  Liberal  Statesmanship. 

In  like  manner,  Mr.  Rockefeller  will 
deserve  more  gratitude  from  posterity 
for  having  prescribed  the  secret  of  high- 
est mental  and  physical  efficiency  in 
[xii] 


PREFACE 

thirty-three  words,  than  for  the  multi- 
ple millions  he  is  dedicating  to  Science 
and  Sociological  Betterment. 

It  will  be  interesting,  however,  to 
seekers  after  supermanish  health  and 
strength  to  know  how  the  author  took 
the  "straight  tip"  of  Mr.  Gladstone,  and 
"worked  it  for  all  it  was  worth"  until 
Mr.  Rockefeller  referred  to  the  process 
of  common-sense  involved  as  "Fletch- 
erizing."         « 

I  assure  you  it  is  an  interesting  story. 
It  has  taken  nearly  fifteen  years  to  bring 
the  development  to  the  point  where  Mr. 
Rockefeller,  who  is  carefulness  personi- 
fied when  it  comes  to  committing  him- 
self for  publication,  is  willing  to  express 
his  opinion  on  the  subject.  It  has  cost 
the  author  unremitting,  completely-ab- 
sorbing, and  prayerful  concentration  of 
attention,  and  nearly  twenty  thousand 
pounds  sterling  ($100,000),  spent  in  fos- 
tering investigations  and  securing  pub- 
licity of  the  results  of  the  inquiries,  with 
some  of  the  best  people  in  Science,  Medi- 
[xiii] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

cine,  and  Business  helping  him  with 
generous  assistance,  to  accompHsh  this 
triumph  of  natural  sanity. 

In  addition  to  other  co-operation,  and 
the  most  effective,  perhaps,  it  is  appro- 
priate to  say  that  there  is  scarcely  a 
periodical  published  in  all  the  world, 
either  technical,  news-bearing,  or  other- 
wise, on  the  staff  of  which  there  has  not 
been  some  member  who  has  not  received 
some  personal  benefit  from  the  sugges- 
tions carried  by  the  economic  system 
now  embodied  in  the  latest  dictionaries 
of  many  nations  as  "Fletcherism." 

The  first  rule  of  "Fletcherism"  is  to 
feel  gratitude  and  to  express  apprecia- 
tion for  and  of  all  the  blessings  which 
Nature,  intelligence,  civilization,  and 
imagination  bring  to  mankind ;  and  this 
utterance  will  be  endorsed,  I  am  sure, 
by  the  millions  of  persons  who  have 
found  economy,  health,  and  general  hap- 
piness through  attention  to  the  require- 
ments of  dietetic  righteousness.  It  will 
be  especially  approved  by  those  who,  like 
[xiv] 


PREFACE 

Mr.  Rockefeller,  gained  new  leases  of 
life  after  having  burned  the  candle  of 
prudence  at  both  ends  and  in  the  middle, 
to  the  point  of  nearly  going  out,  in  the 
struggle  for  money. 

Yet  the  secret  of  preserving  natural 
efficiency  is  even  more  valuable  than 
cure  or  repair  of  damages  due  to  care- 
lessness and  over-strain.  In  this  re- 
spect the  simple  rules  of  Fletcherizing, 
embodying  the  requirements  of  Nature 
in  co-operative  nutrition,  are  made 
effective  by  formulating  exercises 
whereby  habit-of-conf ormity  is  formed, 
and  takes  command  of  the  situation  so 
efficiently,  that  no  more  thought  need 
be  given  to  the  matter  than  is  necessary 
in  regard  to  breathing,  quenching  thirst, 
or  observing  "the  rule  of  the  road''  in 
avoiding  collisions  in  crowded  public 
thoroughfares. 

Mr.  Rockefeller's  thirty-three  words 
not  only  comprise  the  practical  gist  of 
Fletcherism,  but  also  state  the  most  im- 
portant fact,  that  by  these  means  the 

[XV] 


FLETCHERISM :    WHAT   IT   IS 

real  dietetic  devil,  the  devil  of  devils,  is 
kept  at  a  safe  distance. 

The  mechanical  act  of  mastication  is 
easy  to  manage ;  but  this  is  not  all  there 
IS  to  head  digestion.  Bad  habits  of  in- 
attention and  indifference  have  to  be 
conquered  before  good  habits  of  deliber- 
ation and  appreciation  are  formed. 
These  requirements  of  healthy  nutrition 
have  been  studied  extensively  and  ana- 
lyzed thoroughly,  to  the  end  that  we 
know  that  they  may  be  acquired  with 
ease  if  sought  with  serious  interest  and 
respect. 

I  began  the  preface  by  quoting  the 
statement  that  "What  is  good  for  the 
richest  man  in  the  world  must  be  also 
good  for  the  poorest,  and  all  in  be- 
tween."    I  will  close  by  asserting  that 

"Doing  the  right  thing  in  securing  right 
nutrition  is  easier  than  not  if  you  only 
know  how." 

[xvi] 


FLETCHERISM: 

WHAT  IT  IS 

CHAPTER  I 

HOW    I    BECAME   A    FLETCHERITE 

My  Turning  Point — 'How  I  had  Ignored  My  Re- 
sponsibility— What  Happens  during  Mastication — 
The  Four  Principles  of  Fletcherism 

Over  twenty  years  ago,  at  the  age  of 
forty  years,  my  hair  was  white;  I 
weighed  two  hundred  and  seventeen 
pounds  (about  fifty  pounds  more  than  I 
should  for  my  height  of  five  feet  six 
inches)  ;  every  six  months  or  so  I  had  a 
bad  attack  of  "influenza";  I  was  har- 
rowed by  indigestion;  I  was  afflicted 
with  "that  tired  feeling."  I  was  an  old 
man  at  forty,  on  the  way  to  a  rapid  de- 
cline. 

It  was  at  about  this  time  that  I  applied 

[I] 


ELETCHERISM :    WHAT    IT    IS 

for  a  life-insurance  policy,  and  was 
"turned  down"  by  the  examiners  as  a 
''poor  risk."  This  was  the  final  straw. 
I  was  not  afraid  to  die;  I  had  long  ago 
learned  to  look  upon  death  with  equa- 
nimity. At  the  same  time  I  had  a  keen 
desire  to  live,  and  then  and  there  made 
a  determination  that  I  would  find  out 
what  was  the  matter,  and,  if  I  could  do 
so,  save  myself  from  my  threatened  de- 
mise. 

I  realised  that  the  first  thing  to  do 
was,  if  possible,  to  close  up  my  business 
arrangements  so  that  I  could  devote  my- 
self to  the  study  of  how  to  keep  on  the 
face  of  the  earth  for  a  few  more  years. 
This  I  found  it  possible  to  do,  and  I  re- 
tired from  active  money-making. 

The  desire  of  my  life  was  to  live  in 
Japan,  where  I  had  resided  for  several 
years,  and  to  which  country  I  was  pas- 
sionately devoted.  My  tastes  were  in 
the  direction  of  the  fine  arts.  Japan  had 
been  for  years  my  Mecca — my  house- 
hold goods  were  already  there,  waiting 

[2] 


HOW    I    BECAME   A    FLETCHERITE 

until  I  should  take  up  my  permanent 
residence;  and  it  required  no  small 
amount  of  will-power  to  turn  away  from 
the  cherished  hope  of  a  lifetime,  to  con- 
tinue travelling  over  the  world,  and 
concentrate  upon  finding  a  way  to  keep 
alive. 

I  turned  my  back  on  Japan,  and  be- 
gan my  quest  for  health.  For  a  time,  I 
tried  some  of  the  most  famous  "cures" 
in  the  world.  Here  and  there  were  mo- 
ments of  hope,  but  in  the  end  I  was  met 
with  disappointment. 

THE   TURNING   POINT 

It  was  partly  accidental  and  partly 
otherwise  that  I  finally  found  a  clue  to 
the  solution  of  my  health  disabilities. 
A  faint  suggestion  of  possibilities  of  ar- 
rest of  decline  had  dawned  upon  me  in 
the  city  of  Galveston,  Texas,  some  years 
before,  and  had  been  strengthened  by  a 
visit  to  an  Epicurean  philosopher  who 
had  a  snipe  estate  among  the  marsh- 
lands   of    Southern    Louisiana    and    a 

[3] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

truffle  preserve  near  Pau,  in  France. 
He  was  a  disciple  of  Gladstone,  and 
faithfully  followed  the  rules  relative  to 
thorough  chewing  of  food  which  the 
Grand  Old  Man  of  England  had  formu- 
lated for  the  guidance  of  his  children. 
My  friend  in  Louisiana  attributed  his 
robustness  of  health  as  much  to  this  pro- 
tection against  overeating  as  to  the  ex- 
ercise incident  to  his  favourite  sports. 
But  these  impressions  had  not  been 
strong  enough  to  have  a  lasting  effect. 

One  day,  however,  I  was  called  to  Chi- 
cago to  attend  to  some  unfinished  busi- 
ness affairs.  They  were  difficult  of 
settlement,  and  I  was  compelled  to 
''mark  time"  in  the  Western  city  with 
nothing  especially  to  do.  It  was  at  this 
time,  in  1898,  that  I  began  to  think  seri- 
ously of  eating  and  its  effect  upon 
health.  I  read  a  great  many  books,  only 
to  find  that  no  two  authors  agreed ;  and 
I  argued  from  this  fact  that  no  one  had 
found  the  truth,  or  else  there  would  be 
some   consensus   of   agreement.     So   I 

[4] 


HOW   I   BECAME  A   FLETCHERITE 

stopped  reading,  and  determined  to  con- 
sult Mother  Nature  herself  for  direc- 
tion. 

HOW  I  HAD  IGNORED  MY  RESPONSIBILITY 

I  began  by  trying  to  find  out  why 
Nature  required  us  to  eat,  and  how  and 
when.  The  key  to  my  search  was  a  firm 
belief  in  the  good  intentions  of  Nature 
in  the  interest  of  our  health  and  happi- 
ness, and  a  belief  also  that  anything  less 
than  good  health  and  high  efficiency  was 
due  to  transgressions  against  certain 
good  and  beneficent  laws.  Hence,  it  was 
merely  a  question  of  search  to  find  out 
the  nature  of  the  transgression. 

The  fault  was  one  of  nutrition,  evi- 
dently. 

I  argued  that  if  Nature  had  given  us 
personal  responsibility  it  was  not  hidden 
away  in  the  dark  folds  and  coils  of  the 
alimentary  canal  where  we  could  not 
control  it.  The  fault  or  faults  must  be 
committed  before  the  food  was  swal- 
lowed.    I   felt   instinctively   that  here 

[5] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

was  the  key  to  the  whole  situation. 
The  point,  then,  was  to  study  the  cavity 
of  the  mouth ;  and  the  first  thought  was : 
"What  happens  there?"  and  "What  is 
present  there?''  The  answer  was: 
Taste,  Smell  (closely  akin  to  taste  and 
hardly  to  be  distinguished  from  it). 
Feeling,  Saliva,  Mastication,  Appetite, 
Tongue,  Teeth,  etc. 

I  first  took  up  the  careful  study  of 
Taste,  necessitating  keeping  food  in  the 
mouth  as  long  as  possible,  to  learn  its 
course  and  development;  and,  as  I  tried 
it  myself,  wonders  of  new  and  pleasant 
sensations  were  revealed.  New  delights 
of  taste  were  discovered.  Appetite 
assumed  new  leanings.  Then  came 
the  vital  discovery,  which  is  this: 
I  found  that  each  of  us  has  what  I  call 
a  food-filter :  a  discriminating  muscular 
gate  located  at  the  back  of  the  mouth 
where  the  throat  is  shut  off  from  the 
mouth  during  the  process  of  mastica- 
tion. Just  where  the  tongue  drops  over 
backward  toward  its  so-called  roots 
[6] 


HOW    I    BECAME   A   FLETCHERITE 

there  are  usually  five  (sometimes  seven, 
we  are  told)  little  teat-like  projections 
placed  in  the  shape  of  a  horseshoe,  each 
of  them  having  a  trough  around  it,  and 
in  these  troughs,  or  depressions,  termi- 
nate a  great  number  of  taste-buds,  or 
ends  of  gustatory  nerves.  Just  at  this 
point  the  roof  of  the  mouth,  or  the  "hard 
palate,''  ends;  and  the  "soft  palate," 
with  the  uvula  at  the  end  of  it,  drops 
down  behind  the  heavy  part  of  the 
tongue. 

During  the  natural  act  of  chewing  the 
lips  are  closed,  and  there  is  also  a  com- 
plete closure  at  the  back  part  of  the 
mouth  by  the  pressing  of  the  tongue 
against  the  roof  of  the  mouth.  During 
mastication,  then,  the  mouth  is  an  air- 
tight pouch. 

After  which  brief  description,  please 
note,  the  next  time  you  take  food, 

WHAT  HAPPENS  DURING  MASTICATION 

Hold  the  face  down,  so  that  the 
tongue   hangs    perpendicularly   in   the 

[7] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

mouth.  This  is  for  two  reasons:  one, 
because  it  will  show  how  food,  when 
properly  mixed  with  saliva,  will  be  lifted 
up  in  the  hollow  part  in  the  middle  of 
the  tongue,  against  the  direct  force  of 
gravity,  and  will  collect  at  the  place 
where  the  mouth  is  shut  off  at  the  back, 
the  food-gate. 

It  is  a  real  gate ;  and  while  the  food  is 
being  masticated,  so  that  it  may  be 
mixed  with  saliva  and  chemically  trans- 
formed from  its  crude  condition  into  the 
chemical  form  that  makes  it  possible  of 
digestion  and  absorption,  this  gate  will 
remain  tightly  shut,  and  the  throat  will 
be  entirely  cut  off  from  the  mouth. 

But  as  the  food  becomes  creamy,  so  to 
speak,  through  being  mixed  with  saliva, 
or  emulsified,  or  alkalised,  or  neutral- 
ised, or  dextrinised,  or  modified  in  what- 
ever form  Nature  requires,  the  creamy 
substance  will  be  drawn  up  the  central 
conduit  of  the  tongue  until  it  reaches 
the  food-gate. 

If  it  is  found  by  the  taste-buds  there 
[8] 


HOW    I    BECAME   A   FLETCHERITE 

located  around  the  "circumvalate  pap- 
illae" (the  teat-like  projections  on  the 
tongue  which  I  mentioned  above)  to  be 
properly  prepared  for  acceptance  and 
further  digestion,  the  food-gate  will 
open,  and  the  food  thus  ready  for  ac- 
ceptance into  the  body  will  be  sucked 
back  and  swallowed  unconsciously — 
that  is,  without  conscious  effort. 

I  now  started  to  experiment  on  my- 
self. I  chewed  my  food  carefully  until 
I  extracted  all  taste  from  it  there  was 
in  it,  and  until  it  slipped  unconsciously 
down  my  throat.  When  the  appetite 
ceased,  and  I  was  thereby  told  that  I 
had  had  enough,  I  stopped;  and  I  had 
no  desire  to  eat  any  more  until  a  real 
appetite  commanded  me  again.  Then 
I  again  chewed  carefully — eating  al- 
ways whatever  the  appetite  craved. 

THE  FIVE  PRINCIPLES  OF  FLETCHERISM 

I  have  now  found  out  five  things ;  all 
that  there  is  to  my  discovery  relative  to 
optimum  nutrition;  and  to  the  funda- 

•  [9] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

mental  requisite  of  what  is  called  Fletch- 
erism. 

First:  Wait  for  a  true,  earned  appe- 
tite. 

Second:  Select  from  the  food  avail- 
able that  which  appeals  most  to  appe- 
tite, and  in  the  order  called  for  by 
appetite. 

Third:  Get  all  the  good  taste  there 
is  in  food  out  of  it  in  the  mouth,  and 
swallow  only  when  it  practically  "swal- 
lows itself.'' 

Fourth:  Enjoy  the  good  taste  for  all 
it  is  worth,  and  do  not  allow  any  de- 
pressing or  diverting  thought  to  intrude 
upon  the  ceremony. 

Fifth:  Wait ;  take  and  enjoy  as  much 
as  possible  what  appetite  approves; 
Nature  will  do  the  rest. 

For  five  months  I  went  on  patiently 
observing,  and  I  found  out  positively 
in  that  time  that  I  had  worked  out  my 
own  salvation.  I  had  lost  upwards  of 
sixty  pounds  of  fat:  I  was  feeling  bet- 
ter in  all  ways  than  I  had  for  twenty 

[lO] 


HOW    I    BECAME   A   FLETCHERITE 

years.  My  head  was  clear,  my  body 
felt  springy,  I  enjoyed  walking,  I  had 
not  had  a  single  cold  for  five  months, 
*'that  tired  feeling"  was  gone!  But 
my  skin  had  not  yet  shrunk  back  to  fit 
my  reduced  proportions,  and  when  I 
told  friends  whom  I  met  that  I  felt  well 
and  a  new  man,  their  retort  was  that  I 
certainly  "did  not  look  it !"  * 

The  more  I  tried  to  convince  others, 
the  more  fully  I  realised  from  talking 
to  friends  how  futile  and  well-nigh  hope- 
less was  the  attempt  to  get  credence  and 
sympathy  for  my  beliefs,  scientifically 
well  founded  as  I  felt  they  were.  For 
years  it  proved  so;  and  I  faced  the  fact 
that  to  pursue  the  campaign  for  recog- 
nition meant  spending  much  money, 
putting  aside  opportunities  to  make 
profit  in  other  and  more  agreeable  di- 
rections, and  no  end  of  ridicule.     Some- 


*  Note  : — Some  of  these  same  friends,  fifteen 
years  later,  when  I  was  sixty-four  years  of  age,  as 
positively  declared:  "You  never  looked  so  well: 
"Fletcherizing  has  certainly  done  well  for  Fletcher!" 

[II] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

times,  during  the  daytime,  when  I  was 
"sizing  up"  the  situation  in  my  mind, 
treating  it  with  calm  business  judg- 
ment, it  seemed  nothing  less  than  in- 
sane to  waste  any  more  time  or  money 
in  trying  to  prove  my  contentions. 

Fully  three  years  passed  before  I  re- 
ceived encouragement  from  any  source 
of  recognised  authority.  I  went  first 
to  Professor  Atwater,*  who  received 
me  most  politely,  but  when  I  told  him 
my  story  he  threw  cold  water  on  my 
enthusiasm.  In  our  correspondence 
afterwards  he  was  most  cordial  but  in 
no  way  encouraging. 

The  frost  became  more  and  more  re- 
pellent and  benumbing. 

Still  I  persisted.  At  last  I  got  hold 
of  my  first  convert:  a  medical  man,  ill 
and  discouraged;  a  member  of  a  family 
long  distinguished  in  the  medical  pro- 

*  Professor  W.  A.  Atwater,  of  Connecticut,  U.S.A., 
was,  in  his  time,  a  respected  authority  in  the  field 
of  human  nutrition,  and,  as  such,  was  selected  by 
the  editors  of  the  EncyclopcBdia  Britannica  to  write 
the  chapters  on  Nutrition  for  the  Encyclopcedia. 
[12] 


HOW    I    BECAME   A   FLETCHERITE 

fession.  He  was  Doctor  Van  Someren, 
of  Venice,  Italy,  where  I  had  made  my 
home  and  where  I  Hved  for  some  years. 
J.  induced  him  to  organise  an  experi- 
ment with  me.  We  enHsted  a  squad  of 
men  and  induced  them  to  take  food  ac- 
cording to  my  ideas.  We  also  were 
fortunate  enough  to  secure  the  co-oper- 
ation of  Professor  Leonardi,  of  Venice. 
In  less  than  three  weeks  the  sick  phy- 
sician found  himself  relieved  of  his 
acute  ailments,  and  it  would  have  taken 
several  teams  of  horses  to  hold  him 
back  from  preaching  his  discovery.* 
A  little  later,  we  transferred  the  field  of 
experiment  to  the  Austrian  Tyrol,  and 
tested  our  endurance  qualities,  only  to 
find  a  capacity  for  work  that  was  not 
before  considered  possible.  Then  Doc- 
tor Van  Someren  wrote  his  paper  for 
the  British  Medical  Association,  which 
excited  the   interest  of  Professor   Sir 


*  Dr.  Van  Someren's  testimony  is  given  as  an  Ap- 
pendix to  this  volume;  taken  from  The  A.B. — Z.  of 
Our  Own  Nutrition, 

[13] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

Michael  Foster,  of  the  University  of 
Cambridge,  England,  and  the  first  wave 
of  scientific  attention  was  set  in  mo- 
tion. 


[14] 


CHAPTER  II 

SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

First  Critical  Examination  at  Cambridge  University, 
England — My  Endurance  Test  at  Yale  University 
in  America 

One  result  of  this  powerful  interest 
was  a  test  of  our  theories  made  at  Cam- 
bridge University,  England,  organised 
by  Sir  Michael  Foster,  who  was  then 
Professor  of  Physiology  at  the  Univer- 
sity, and  conducted  by  Professor  Fran- 
cis Gowland  Hopkins.  The  test  was 
successful,  proving  our  most  optimistic 
claims,  and  the  report  of  it  was  pub- 
lished. 

The  scientific  world  now  began  to 
turn  its  attention  to  my  discoveries. 
Doctor  Henry  Pickering  Bowditch,  of 
Harvard  Medical  School,  the  dean  of 
American    physiologists,    put    the    full 

[15] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

weight  of  his  respected  influence  into 
the  work  to  secure  for  America  the 
honour  of  completing  the  investigation ; 
but  it  was  not  until  the  experiments  at 
Yale  University,  in  New  Haven,  that 
the  first  wide  publicity  was  accorded. 
The  story  of  this  and  subsequent  experi- 
ments and  their  results  is  this:  Pro- 
fessor Russell  H.  Chittenden  was  at  the 
time  President  of  the  American  Physio- 
logical Association,  Director  of  the 
Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  Uni- 
versity, and  the  recognised  leading 
physiological  chemist  of  America.  He 
invited  me  to  the  annual  meeting  of  the 
Physiological  Association  at  Washing- 
ton, where  I  described  the  results  in 
economy  and  efficiency,  and  especially 
in  getting  rid  of  fatigue  of  brain  and 
muscle,  obtained  up  to  that  time.  But 
evidently  to  little  purpose,  as  Professor 
Chittenden  revealed  to  me  at  the  close 
of  the  meeting.     He  said,  in  effect: 

"Fletcher,  all  the  men  you  have  met 
at  our  meeting  like  you  immensely,  per- 
[i6] 


The    Author    Testing  his    Endurance    by  means    of  the    Kellogg 

Mercurial  Dynamometer.     Dr.  Anderson,  Director  of  the  Yale 

Gymnasium,  in  the  background. 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

sonally;  but  no  one  takes  much  stock  in 
your  claims,  even  with  the  endorsement 
of  the  Cambridge  men;  the  test  there 
was  insufficient  to  be  conclusive.  If, 
however,  you  will  come  to  New  Haven 
and  let  us  put  you  through  an  exami- 
nation, our  report  will  be  accepted  here. 
You  will  be  either  justified  or  disillu- 
sioned; and — I  want  to  be  frank  with 
you — I  think  you  will  be  disillusioned." 

MY   EXAMINATION 

by  Dr.  Chittenden  showed  a  daily  aver- 
age of  44.9  grams  of  proteid,  38.0 
grams  of  fat,  and  253  grams  of  carbo- 
hydrates, with  a  total  average  calory 
value  of  1,606  (compare  this  with  the 
Voit  Diet  Standard,  page  109),  and 
careful  and  thorough  tests  made  at 
the  Yale  Gymnasium  proved  that,  in 
spite  of  this  relatively  low  ration,  I  was 
in  prime  physical  condition. 

Previously,  as  before  stated,  in  the 
autumn  of  1901,  Dr.  Van  Someren  had 
accompanied  me  to  Cambridge  for  the 

[17] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

purpose  of  having  our  claims  closely  in- 
vestigated, with  the  assistance  of  physi- 
ological experts.  The  Cambridge  and 
the  Venice  findings  were  fully  confirmed 
at  New  Haven,  and  striking  physical 
evidence  was  added  by  Doctor  William 
Gilbert  Anderson's  examinations  of 
me  in  the  Yale  Gymnasium.  This  lat- 
ter test,  described  on  page  24,  was  more 
practically  important  as  an  eye-opener 
to  both  doctors  and  laymen  than  were 
the  laboratory  reports.  I  personally 
showed  endurance  and  strength  in  spe- 
cial tests  superior  to  the  foremost 
among  the  College  athletes.  This  was 
without  training  and  with  comparatively 
small  muscle;  the  superiority  of  the 
muscle  lying  in  the  quality  and  not  in 
the  amount  of  it. 

Professor  Chittenden  then  became  in- 
tensely interested  in  the  matter,  as  did 
also  Professor  Mendel;  and  the  former 
suggested  organising  an  experiment  on 
a  sufficiently  large  scale  to  prove  uni- 
versality of  application  or  the  reverse. 

[18] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

He  volunteered  his  services  and  the  use 
of  his  laboratory  facilities. 

At  this  time,  too,  I  became  acquainted 
with  General  Leonard  Wood  *  and  Sur- 
geon-General O'Reilly,  of  the  United 
States  Army.  I  found  both  open  to  my 
evidence;  and,  in  the  case  of  General 
Wood,  I  learned  that  it  was  confirmed 
by  his  own  experience  while  chas- 
ing Indians  in  the  Western  wilds. 
Through  them  President  Roosevelt  and 
Secretary  Root  became  interested,  and 
carte  blanche  was  given  General 
O'Reilly  to  use  the  War  Department  fa- 
cilities, including  the  soldiers  of  the 
Hospital  Corps,  for  assistance  in  the 
proposed  experiment,  t 

One  of  the  revelations  of  our  experi- 
ments worthy  of  mention  here  was  that 

*  Now  Chief  of  Staff. 

tThe  full  report  of  this  famous  experiment  may 
be  found  in  Professor  Chittenden's  book  Physiolo- 
gical Economy  in  Nutrition;  but  such  small  mention 
of  indebtedness  to  Fletcherism  was  made,  that  Pro- 
fessor   Irving   Fisher,    in   the    interest   of   practical 

[19] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

occasional  long  abstinence  from  food, 
say  two  or  three  weeks,  with  water 
freely  available,  is  comparatively  harm- 
less, if  "Fletcherizing"  is  carefully 
practised  when  food  is  again  given  to 
the  body.  Nature  prescribes  accurately 
what  is  to  be  eaten  (often  the  most  un- 
expected sort  of  food)  ;  and  if  the  food 
selected  by  appetite  is  carefully  masti- 
cated, sipped,  or  whatever  other  treat- 
ment is  necessary  to  get  the  good  taste 
out  of  it,  and  the  mental  state  at  the 
same  time  is  clear  of  fear-thought  or 
worry  of  any  kind,  the  just  amount  that 
the  body  can  use  at  the  moment  is  pre- 
scribed by  appetite,  and  the  restoration 
to  normal  weight  is  accomplished  with 

Political  Economy,  organised  a  supplemental  experi- 
ment, more  normal  than  the  first,  to  test  the  economic 
effects  of  Fletcherism,  pure  and  simple. 

A  brief  account  of  this  investigation  is  given  on 
page  98. 

Professor  Chittenden  made  amends,  later  on,  by- 
composing  a  physiological  prose  poem  on  the  bene- 
fits and  delights  resulting  from  careful  chewing  and 
tasting  of  nutriment,  which  I  quote  in  full  in  Chap- 
ter VII. 

[20] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

epicurean  delight,  well  worth  a  spell  of 
deprivation. 

THE   IRVING    FISHER   EXPERIMENTS 

The  tests  of  endurance,  which  were 
conducted  by  Professor  Irving  Fisher, 
of  Yale,  now  President  of  the  Commit- 
tee of  One  Hundred  on  National  Health 
of  the  American  Association  for  the  Ad- 
vancement of  Science,  and  with  the  co- 
operation of  the  famous  athletic  coach, 
Alonzo  B.  Stagg,  formerly  of  Yale,  but 
now  of  the  University  of  Chicago — on 
College  athletes,  students  of  sedentary 
habits,  and  on  members  of  the  staff  of 
the  Battle  Creek  Sanatorium — are  of 
prodigious  importance  in  their  relation 
to  the  possibilities  of  human  endurance 
through  simple  Fletcherizing. 

The  reports  include  a  test  in  what  is 
termed  "deep-knee  bending,"  or  squat- 
ting on  the  heels  and  then  lifting  the 
body  to  full  height  as  many  times  as 
possible.  John  H.  Granger,  of  the  Bat- 
tle Creek  Sanatorium  staff,  did  this  feat 

[21] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

5,002  times  consecutively  in  two  hours 
and  nineteen  minutes  and  could  have 
continued.  He  then  ran  down  a  flight 
of  steps  to  the  swimming-pool,  plunged 
in  and  had  a  swim,  slept  sweetly  and 
soundly  for  the  usual  time,  and  showed 
no  signs  of  soreness  or  other  disability 
afterwards. 

Doctor  Wagner  gave  his  strenuous 
contribution  to  our  knowledge  of  possi- 
bilities of  endurance  by  holding  his  arms 
out  horizontally  for  200  minutes  with- 
out rest — three  hours  and  twenty  min- 
utes. At  the  end  of  that  time  he  showed 
no  signs  of  fatigue,  and  stopped  only 
because  of  the  weariness  shown  by  those 
who  were  watching  and  counting  the 
minutes.  These  statements  seem  like 
exaggerations,  but  they  are  not. 

Both  of  these  tests  can  be  tried  by 
any  one  in  the  privacy  of  his  or  her  own 
bedroom. 

Doctor  Anderson,  Director  of  the 
Yale  Gymnasium,  taking  advantage  of 
the  cue  offered  by  the  Yale  experiments, 

[22] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

which  he  superintended,  practised 
Fletcherizing  in  all  its  branches.  At 
the  end  of  six  years  he  put  the  muscles 
thus  purified  to  the  test,  with  the  result 
that  he  added  fifteen  pounds  of  pure 
muscle  to  a  frame  that  never  carried 
more  than  135  pounds  before  in  the  half 
century  of  its  existence,  and  demon- 
strated that  the  same  progressive  recu- 
peration that  I  have  enjoyed  is  open  and 
available  to  others  who  have  passed 
middle  life. 

Mr.  Stapleton,  one  of  Professor  Chit- 
tenden's volunteers,  grasped  the  same 
valuable  cue  while  serving  as  one  of 
the  heavy-weight  test-subjects  in  the 
Yale  experiments.  He  reduced  his 
waist  measurement  to  thirty  inches  and 
a  half,  increased  his  chest  measurement 
to  forty-four  inches;  and  has  refined 
his  physique  until  his  ribs  show  clearly 
through  his  flesh,  while  his  muscles 
mount  tall  and  strong  where  muscle  is 
needed  in  the  economy  of  efficiency. 
In  the  meantime,  without  training  other 

[23] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

than  that  connected  with  his  teaching, 
he  increased  the  total  of  his  strength 
and  endurance  more  than  one  hundred 
per  cent.;  and  reduced  his  amount  of 
food  by  nearly,  if  not  quite,  half — as 
have  also  Doctor  Anderson  and  myself. 

MY  ENDURANCE  TEST  AT  YALE 

These  are  merely  typical  cases  of  dis- 
tinguished and  measured  improvement. 

How  the  movement  went  on  from 
step  to  step  others  have  told,  and  I  need 
not  follow  it  further  here. 

Two  years  after  I  began  my  experi- 
ments my  strength  and  endurance  had 
increased  beyond  my  wildest  expec- 
tation. On  my  fiftieth  birthday  I  rode 
nearly  two  hundred  miles  on  my  bicycle 
over  French  roads,  and  came  home 
feeling  fine.  Was  I  stiff  the  next  day? 
Not  at  all,  and  I  rode  fifty  miles  the 
next  morning  before  breakfast  in  order 
to  test  the  effect  of  my  severe  stunt.* 

*  Detailed  account  of  this  test  is  given  in  The 
New  Glutton  or  Epicure,  New  York:  Frederick  A. 
Stokes  Company. 

[24] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

When  I  was  fifty-eight  years  of  age, 
at  the  Yale  University  Gymnasium,  un- 
der the  observation  of  Dr.  Anderson. 
I  Hfted  three  hundred  pounds  dead 
weight  three  hundred  and  fifty  times 
with  the  muscles  of  my  right  leg  below 
the  knee.  The  record  of  the  best  athlete 
then  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
lifts,  so  I  doubled  the  world's  record  of 
that  style  of  tests  of  endurance. 

The  story  of  this  test  at  Yale,  when 
I  doubled  the  ''record''  about  which  so 
much  has  been  written,  is  this:  Pro- 
fessor Irving  Fisher,  of  Yale,  had  de- 
vised a  new  form  of  endurance-testing 
machine  intended  to  be  used  upon  the 
muscles  most  commonly  in  use  by  all 
persons.  Obviously  these  are  the  mus- 
cles used  in  walking.  Quite  a  large 
number  of  tests  had  been  measured  by 
the  Fisher  machine,  but  it  was  still  be- 
ing studied  with  a  view  to  possible  sim- 
plification. 

I  was  asked  to  try  it  and  to  suggest 
any  changes  that  might  improve  it.     I 

[25] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

did  so,  and  handled  the  weight  with 
such  seeming  ease  that  Dr.  Anderson 
asked  me  whether  I  would  not  make  a 
thorough  test  of  my  endurance.  This 
I  was  glad  to  do. 

The  Professor  Irving  Fisher  En- 
durance Testing  Machine  is  weighted 
to  75  per  cent,  of  the  lifting  capacity  of 
the  subject,  .  ascertained  by  means  of 
the  Kellogg  Mercurial  Dynamometer. 
The  lifting  is  timed  to  the  beats  of  a 
metronome. 

When  I  began,  Dr.  Anderson  cau- 
tioned me  against  attempting  too  much. 
I  asked  him  what  he  considered  ''too 
much,"  and  he  replied :  "For  a  man  of 
your  age,  not  in  training,  I  should  not 
recommend  trying  more  than  fifty 
lifts."  So  I  began  the  test,  lifting  the 
weight  to  the  beat  of  the  metronome  at 
the  rate  of  about  one  in  two  seconds^ 
and  had  soon  reached  the  fifty  mark. 
"Be  careful,"  repeated  Dr.  Anderson, 
"you  may  not  feel  that  you  are  over- 

[26] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

doing  now,  but  afterwards  you  may  re- 
gret it." 

But  I  felt  no  strain  and  went  on. 

When  seventy-five  had  been  ex- 
ceeded, Dr.  Anderson  called  Dr.  Born 
from  his  desk  to  take  charge  of  the 
counting  and  watching  to  see  that  the 
lifts  were  fully  completed,  and  ran  out 
into  the  gymnasium  to  call  the  masters 
of  boxing,  wrestling,  fencing,  etc.,  to 
witness  the  test.  When  they  had  gath- 
ered about  the  machine,  Dr.  Anderson 
said  to  them,  "It  looks  as  if  we  were 
going  to  see  a  record-breaking."  I 
then  asked,  "What  are  the  records?" 
Dr.  Anderson  replied,  "One  hundred 
and  seventy-five  lifts  is  the  record ;  only 
two  men  have  exceeded  one  hundred; 
the  lowest  was  thirty-three,  and  the 
average  so  far  is  eighty-four." 

In  the  meantime  I  had  reached  one 
hundred  and  fifty  lifts,  and  the  interest 
was  centered  on  the  question  as  to 
whether  I  should  reach  the  high  record, 
one  hundred  and  seventy-five. 

[27] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

When  one  hundred  and  seventy-five 
had  been  reached,  Dr.  Anderson 
stepped  forward  to  catch  me  in  case  the 
leg  in  use  in  the  test  should  not  be  able 
to  support  me  when  I  stopped  and  at- 
tempted to  stand  up.  But  I  did  not 
stop  lifting  the  three-hundred-pound 
weight.  I  kept  right  on,  and  as  I  pro- 
gressed to  two  hundred,  two  hundred 
and  fifty,  three  hundred,  and  finally  to 
double  the  record,  three  hundred  and 
fifty  lifts,  the  interest  increased  pro- 
gressively. 

After  adding  a  few  to  the  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  I  stopped,  not  because  I 
was  suffering  from  fatigue,  but  be- 
cause the  pounding  of  the  iron  collar  on 
the  muscles  above  my  knee  had  made 
the  place  so  pummelled  very  sore,  as  if 
hit  a  great  number  of  times  with  a 
heavy  sledge-hammer,  I  had  doubled 
the  record,  and  that  seemed  sufficient 
for  a  starter  in  the  competition. 

As  I  stood  up.  Dr.  Anderson  reached 

[28] 


The    Author    undergoing    a    Test    at    Yale  when   he    made    a 
World's    Record    on    the    Irving    Fisher    Endurance    Testing 

Machine. 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

Up  his  arms  to  support  me.  But  I 
needed  no  support.  The  leg  that  had 
been  in  use  feh  a  trifle  lighter,  but  in 
no  sense  weak  or  tired. 

Then  I  was  examined  for  heart-ac- 
tion, steadiness  of  nerve,  muscle,  etc., 
and  was  found  to  be  all  right,  with  no 
evidence  of  strain.  A  glass  brimming 
full  of  water  was  placed  first  in  one 
hand  and  then  in  the  other,  and  was 
held  out  at  arm's  length  without  spill- 
ing any  of  the  water. 

Next  morning  I  was  examined  for 
evidence  of  soreness,  but  none  was 
present.  There  was  the  normal  elas- 
ticity and  tone  of  muscle. 

Later  in  that  same  year,  at  the  Inter- 
national Young  Men's  Christian  Asso- 
ciation Training  School  at  Springfield, 
Massachusetts,  I  lifted  seven  hundred 
and  seventy  pounds  with  the  muscles  of 
the  back  and  legs — a  feat  that  weight- 
lifting  athletes  find  hard  to  perform. 
And  I  did  these  stunts  eating  two  meals 

[29] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

a  day,  one  at  noon  and  the  other  at  six 
o'clock,  at  an  average  cost  of  eleven 
cents  a  day. 

Still  another  examination  at  the  Uni- 
versity of  Pennsylvania  resulted  in  my 
breaking  the  College  record  of  lifting 
power  with  the  back  muscles.  I  do  not 
cite  these  instances  as  feats  of  extra- 
ordinary prowess,  but  just  to  show  the 
difference  in  my  condition  then  and 
twenty  years  before.  All  this  I  have 
done  simply  by  keeping  my  body  free 
of  excess  of  food  and  the  poisons  that 
come  from  the  putrefaction  of  the  food 
that  the  organism  does  not  want  and 
cannot  take  care  of. 

As  to  myself,  I  am  now  past  sixty- 
four.  I  weigh  one  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds,  which  is  a  good  weight 
for  my  height.  During  the  many  years 
of  experiment  I  have  ranged  between 
two  hundred  and  seventeen  and  one 
hundred  and  thirty  pounds,  but  have 
"settled  down"  to  my  present  quite  con- 
venient figure.     I  feel  perfectly  well;  I 

[30] 


SCIENTIFIC   TESTS 

can  do  as  much  work  as  can  a  man  of 
forty — more  than  can  the  average  man 
of  forty,  I  believe.  I  rarely  have  a 
cold,  and  although  I  am  always  careless 
in  this  regard,  my  work  is  never  de- 
layed. I  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  have 
*'that  tired  feeling,"  except  as  ex- 
pressed by  sleepiness.  When  I  get  into 
bed  I  scarce  ever  remember  my  head 
striking  the  pillow,  and  after  four  and 
one-half  hours  I  awake  from  a  dream- 
less slumber  with  a  happy  waking 
thought  in  process  of  formation. 

I  usually  find  it  agreeable  to  court 
supplemental  naps,  to  be  followed  by 
more  pleasant  waking  thoughts:  but 
these  are  pure  luxury.  I  can  do  with 
five  hours  sleep  if  need  be. 


[31] 


CHAPTER  III 

WHAT    I    AM    ASKED   ABOUT 
FLETCHERISM 

Let  Nature  Choose  the  Meals — How  Many  Meals  a 
Day  ? — Housewives — Fletcherism — The  Financial 
Economy  of  Fletcherism — Business  People  and 
Fletcherism — The  True  Epicure 

What  do  I  eatf 

When  do  I  eat? 

How  much  do  I  eatf 

My  answer  to  all  these  questions  is 
very  simple.  I  eat  anything  that  my 
appetite  calls  for;  I  eat  it  only  when  it 
does  call  for  it;  and  I  eat  until  my  ap- 
petite is  satisfied  and  cries  "Enough!" 

With  my  New  England  food  prefer- 
ences, my  range  of  selection  circulates 
among  a  very  simple  and  inexpensive 
variety,  namely,  potatoes,  corn-bread, 
beans,  occasionally  eggs,  milk,  cream, 
toast-and-butter,  etc. ;  and  combinations 
of  these,  such  as  hashed-browned  pota- 

[32] 


WHAT   I   AM    ASKED 

toes,  potatoes  in  cream,  potatoes  au 
gratin,  baked  potatoes,  potato  pats,  fish- 
balls — mainly  composed  of  potato;  oc- 
casionally tomato  stewed  with  plenty  of 
powdered  sugar;  oyster  stew  with  the 
flavour  of  celery;  escalloped  oysters, 
etc.  The  taste  for  fruits  is  always  suit- 
able to  the  season,  and  is  intermittent, 
strong  leanings  towards  some  partic- 
ular fruit  persisting  for  a  time  and  then 
waning  to  give  place  to  some  other  pref- 
erence. 

But  with  all  my  fifteen  or  twenty 
years  of  unremitting  study  of  the  sub- 
ject, I  cannot  now  tell  what  my  body  is 
going  to  want  to-morrow.  But  Na- 
ture knows,  and  she  alone  knows. 

LET    NATURE    CHOOSE   THE    MEAL 

Once  in  Venice  a  group  of  experi- 
menters, of  which  I  was  one,  subsisted 
on  milk  alone.  During  seventeen  days 
nothing  but  milk,  always  from  the  same 
cow,  and  fresh  from  the  milking, 
passed  my  lips  in  the  way  of  food  or 

[33] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

drink.  I  sipped  the  milk,  and  tasted 
it  for  all  the  taste  there  was  in  it,  and  I 
learned  to  be  so  fond  of  it  that  it  was 
with  some  difficulty  that  I  went  back  to 
a  varied  diet  when  the  experiment 
called  for  a  change.  Good,  fresh  milk 
is  an  exception  to  Nature's  dislike  for 
monotony  in  food.  Milk  is  the  one 
perfectly-balanced  food  material;  and 
while  it  may  not  be  always  the  best  food 
for  grown  persons,  it  is  the  most  ac- 
ceptable as  a  monotonous  diet,  and  al- 
ways is  good,  sufficient  and  safe  nutri- 
ment, if  sipped,  tasted,  and  naturally 
swallowed. 

I  have  forgotten  just  what  the  exact 
quantity  was  that  I  consumed  daily  dur- 
ing those  seventeen  days — I  believe  it 
was  about  two  quarts.  I  get  away  as 
far  as  possible  from  quantitative 
amounts,  which  may  influence  other 
persons.  The  appetite  is  the  only  true 
guide  to  bodily  need;  and  if  milk  is 
tasted  and  swallowed  only  by  involun- 
tary compulsion  as  required  by  right 

[34] 


WHAT    I   AM    ASKED 

feeding,  the  appetite  will  gauge  the 
bodily  need  exactly,  and  cut  off  short 
when  enough  for  the  moment  has  been 
taken. 

So  I  say  to  all  who  ask  me  these  ques- 
tions as  applied  to  themselves:  I  cannot 
advise  you  appropriately  what  to  eat, 
when  to  eat,  nor  how  much  to  eat; 
neither  can  anybody  else.  Trust  to 
Nature  absolutely,  and  accept  her  guid- 
ance. 

If  she  calls  for  pie,  eat  pie.  If  she 
calls  for  it  at  midnight  eat  it  then,  but 
eat  it  right.  Understand  the  food 
filter  at  the  back  of  the  mouth  as  I  have 
described  it  in  a  previous  article,  and 
use  it  in  connection  with  the  pie.  If  it 
is  used  properly,  and  all  the  taste  is  ex- 
tracted from  the  pie,  and  it  is  swallowed 
only  in  response  to  the  natural  opening 
of  the  gate,  and  if  the  ingredients  of 
the  pie  that  are  not  swallowed  naturally 
are  removed  from  the  mouth,  nothing 
will  happen  to  disturb  profound  sleep. 

Few  persons  will  crave  mince  pie  or 

[35] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

Welsh  rarebit  late  at  night.  The 
worker  on  a  morning  paper  may  do  so, 
and  often  does.  He  has  earned  his 
appetite,  and  sometimes  it  is  so  robust 
as  to  call  for  mince  pie  or  Welsh  rare- 
bit; but  if  these  are  eaten  properly  they 
will  then  be  utilised  by  the  body,  eagerly 
and  easily. 

I  dwell  purposely  upon  this  extrava- 
gance of  eating.  It  is  to  accentuate 
the  fact  that  we  want  to  get  as  far  away 
as  possible,  when  cultivating  vital  econ- 
omies, from  the  idea  of  extraneous  ad- 
vice in  the  matter  of  food. 

The  ordinary  person  will  probably 
find  his  appetite  leaning  towards  the 
simplest  of  foods,  and  away  from  fre- 
quency of  indulgence.  If  the  break- 
fast is  postponed  until  a  real,  earned 
appetite  has  been  secured,  the  mid-day 
or  later  breakfast  (remember  always 
that  breakfast  means  the  first  meal  of 
the  day,  no  matter  when  taken)  will  be 
so  enjoyable  a  meal,  and  the  appetite 
will  be  so  entirely  satisfied  that  there 

[36] 


WHAT    I    AM    ASKED 

will  be  no  more  demand  for  food  until 
evening,  and  possibly  not  even  then. 

HOW    MANY    MEALS   A   DAY? 

I  am  often  asked  if  it  is  true  that  I 
eat  only  two  meals  a  day;  that  I  never 
eat  breakfast,  and  why  I  have  dropped 
that  meal. 

I  have  two  meals  a  day  more  habit- 
ually than  any  other  number,  but  not 
with  any  prescribed  regularity,  for  the 
reason  that  my  activities  are  most  ir- 
regular at  times,  and  my  appetite  ac- 
commodates itself  to  my  needs. 

When  I  am  doing  work  under  the 
most  favourable  of  conditions,  one 
meal  a  day  is  the  rhythm  best  appreci- 
ated by  my  body.  But  the  question  of 
"How  many  meals  a  day?"  is  tanta- 
mount to  the  inquiry  as  to  the  amount 
of  sleep  needed :  it  is  a  matter  of  satis- 
faction of  the  natural  requirements. 
The  harder  one  works,  the  faster  one 
runs,  etc.,  the  more  air  he  needs.  The 
same  applies  to  the  need  for  food  ac- 

[37] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

cording  to  the  amount  of  heat  elimi- 
nated, and  the  repair  material  consumed. 
The  really  hardest  work  that  anybody 
does  is  done  within  the  body.  Mus- 
cular effort  in  normal  conditions  is  not 
so  waste-provoking  and  exacting  as 
getting  rid  of  excess  of  food  and  the 
counteraction  of  worry  or  anger. 
Likewise,  idleness  begets  uneasiness, 
uneasiness  begets  desire  for  something 
(nobody  knows  just  what),  and  grop- 
ing around  for  '*Don't  know  what" 
causes  the  temptation  to  eat  and  drink 
something  which  the  body  does  not 
need;  and  then  the  really  hard  work  of 
the  body  begins  in  the  attempt  of  Na- 
ture to  get  rid  of  the  excess.  Excess  of 
water  can  be  thrown  off  in  perspiration 
with  comparative  ease,  but  with  excess 
of  food  it  is  different.  The  kidneys, 
bacteria  and  fuel  furnaces  of  the  body 
are  all  over-worked  to  get  rid  of  it. 

When  I  am  so  busy  that  I  have  only 
time  to  replenish  the  real  exhausted 
need  of  the  body,  say  half  an  hour  at 

[38] 


WHAT   I   AM   ASKED 

most,  I  find  one  meal  a  day  all  that  my 
appetite  demands  of  me.  This  is  taken 
after  I  have  done  my  day's  work  of, 
say,  eight  hours  of  writing,  or  twelve 
or  thirteen  hours  of  bicycle  riding  or 
mountain  climbing,  and  then  I  do  not 
have  appetite  for  more  until  the  next 
day,  after  the  work  is  done. 

When  I  mention  two  meals  as  being 
the  more  habitual,  it  is  because  I  am  not 
fully,  constructively  active  all  the  time 
now,  although  I  am  usually  "snowed 
under"  with  things  that  I  might  do  to 
advantage;  and  hence  I  conform  to  the 
social  custom  and  sit  down  to  table 
some  time  in  the  evening  to  be  social. 

The  reason  I  have  dropped  the  habit- 
hunger  morning  meal  is  because  I  find 
that  it  is  unnatural  in  my  case.  My  ex- 
perience showed  me  that  omission  of 
the  early  morning  meal  led  to  desire  for 
a  lighter  but  more  satisfactory  mid-day 
meal,  and  took  away  the  craving  for  the 
evening  supper.  I  first  came  to  this 
realisation       during      excessive      hot 

[39] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

weather  and  monotonously  trying  en- 
vironment. The  only  time  I  could 
write  comfortably  was  before  sun-up  in 
the  morning.  Absorbed  in  my  writing 
I  did  not  realise  the  growing  heat  of 
the  day  until  I  actually  began  to  rain 
perspiration,  by  which  time  it  was 
nearly  noon.  Then  came  the  mid-day 
meal  of  breakfast  selection  with  salad 
and  fruit  preponderating.  The  best  of 
feelings  followed,  the  waist-line 
shrank,  and  one  meal  satisfied. 

In  order  to  try  the  urgency  of  any 
habit  appetite — the  early  morning  meal, 
for  instance — take  a  drink  of  water  in- 
stead, and  note  if  that  does  not  suffice 
as  well  as  food  to  allay  the  craving  for 
"something."  A  cup  of  hot  water, 
with  sugar  and  milk  to  suit  the  taste, 
is  amply  sufficient.  Water  will  not  sat- 
isfy a  real,  earned  appetite;  but  it  often 
will  effectually  allay  a  purely  habit- 
hunger  such  as  that  for  early  break- 
fast. 

[40] 


WHAT    I    AM    ASKED 


HOUSEWIVES   AND   FLETCHERISM 

A  great  many  women  ask:  "But  how 
is  it  possible  to  follow  such  a  haphazard 
way  of  eating  in  a  home  without  upset- 
ting the  whole  routine  of  the  household, 
disturbing  the  work  of  the  servants? 
You  can't  just  have  your  family  eating 
whenever  they  like." 

My  answer  is  this:  The  possible 
disturbance  to  domestic  regularity  and 
convenience,  because  of  the  difficulty  of 
supplying  different  members  of  the 
family  only  when  appetite  in  each  case 
is  "just  good  and  ready,"  is  purely  im- 
aginary. Persons  of  regular  occupa- 
tions will  accommodate  themselves  to 
the  ordinary  rhythm  of  meal  schedule 
easily  and  naturally,  with  the  difference 
that  they  may  occasionally  skip  a  meal 
or  two  when  the  ordinary  activity  has 
been  lessened. 

The  general  experience  has  been, 
that   concentration   on   one   particular 

[41] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

meal,  either  at  noon  or  in  the  evening, 
will  suit  everybody,  and  other  feedings 
will  be  "snoopings"  from  the  larder,  or 
taken  at  a  restaurant  in  those  instances 
where  one's  occupation  is  remote  from 
home.  The  "Fletcherite"  at  business 
frequently  follows  the  method  of  having 
nuts  or  plain  biscuits  in  his  desk  in  case 
he  feels  like  taking  them ;  and  the  busi- 
ness woman  would  do  well  to  profit  by 
his  example. 

The  adoption  of  Fletcheristic  sim- 
plicity leads  to  the  solving  of  the  eternal 
household  problem,  and  under  its  in- 
fluence it  is  possible  for  woman's  work 
to  be  done  sooner,  giving  physical  relief 
and  more  time  for  healthful  recreation. 

Diminution  of  the  demand  for  meat- 
foods  has  much  to  do  with  both  the  ease 
of  house-work,  and  the  modification  of 
cost.  But  this  is  not  the  most  impor- 
tant saving.  The  saving  of  liability  to 
intestinal  toxication  (poisoning)  is  the 
great  economy  of  the  method. 

[42] 


WHAT   I   AM    ASKED 

THE  FINANCIAL  ECONOMY  OF  FLETCHER- 
ISM 

It  has  been  stated  by  writers  who 
have  correctly  reported  resuhs  that 
more  than  two  hundred  thousand  fam- 
ilies in  America  live  according  to 
Fletcherism  and  save  as  much  as  a  dol- 
lar a  day  on  their  living  expenses. 
This  has  led  many  to  ask:  "How  are 
one's  living  expenses  reduced  by  your 
principles  ?'' 

The  estimate,  arrived  at  a  few  years 
ago,  that  some  two  hundred  thousand 
families  in  America  were  saving  an 
average  of  a  dollar  a  day  through 
Fletcherizing,  was  made,  I  believe,  by 
Doctor  Kellog,  of  Battle  Creek,  Mich- 
igan. Through  the  thousands  of  pa- 
tients who  pass  under  his  observation, 
and  through  a  comprehensive  touch 
with  the  sale  of  different  kinds  of  food 
throughout  the  country,  Doctor  Kellog 
has  his  finger  on  the  pulse  of  the  nation 

[43] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

in  relation  to  its  dietetic  circulation. 
Fletcherism  first  affected  families  of 
sumptuous  tastes,  and  the  economy  of 
it  easily  effected  a  saving  of  an  average 
of  a  dollar  a  day,  largely  in  the  diminu- 
tion of  meat  requirements  and  complex 
dishes. 

The  spread  of  the  movement  has 
now  begun  to  encompass  families  of 
lesser  luxury  of  habits;  and  here  it  is 
found  that  an  average  saving  of  ten 
cents  a  day  for  each  person  is  easily 
accomplished.  In  the  Christian  En- 
deavour Society  alone,  the  leaders  of 
the  movement,  as  the  result  of  their 
own  practical  experience,  hoped  to 
effect  a  saving  of  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  a  day  through  the 
spread  of  this  economic  nutritive  teach- 
ing. This  was  likewise  the  aspiration 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  benevolent 
organisations.  A  circular  letter 
signed  by  the  Reverend  Father  Hig- 
gins,  of  Germantown,  Pennsylvania, 
which  was  distributed  widely,  declared 

[44] 


WHAT    I    AM    ASKED 

that,  in  addition  to  the  food  economy 
sought  to  be  obtained,  a  condition 
which  makes  for  poverty — that  is,  in- 
temperance— was  overcome  by  Fletch- 
erism. 

Father  Higgins  declared  that  ''No 
Fletcherite  can  he  intemperate  in  the 
use  of  alcoholic  stimulants,'*  and  he  was 
right  in  his  assertion. 

BUSINESS      PEOPLE     AND      FLETCHERISM 

What  would  be  the  best  way  for 
business  people  to  adopt  Fletcherism? 
is  often  asked.  The  case  is  frequently 
cited  to  me  of  a  young  man  or  woman 
who  isn't  hungry  for  breakfast  at  seven 
o'clock,  does  not  eat  at  that  time  be- 
cause the  appetite  doesn't  demand  it; 
and  then  gets  ravenously  hungry  at 
eleven  o'clock.  It  may  be  impossible  to 
get  any  food  until  one-thirty — by 
which  time  the  feeling  comes  that  one 
has  "waited  too  long,"  and  a  headache 
and  no  desire  for  food  are  the  results. 
Or,  the  case  of  working-girls  who  live 

[45] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

in  boarding-houses,  eat  no  breakfast, 
and  at  noon  cannot  afford  the  whole- 
some and  hearty  food  Nature  would 
then  crave.  Later,  at  dinner,  they 
have  to  eat  what  is  put  before  them, 
whether  they  want  it  or  not,  or  else  go 
without.  Will  a  hearty  luncheon, 
rightly  eaten,  interfere  with  a  good 
afternoon's  work?  I  am  reminded 
also  that  leisure,  money,  and  easily-ac- 
cessible cafes  are  not  always  available 
for  business  women. 

My  answer  to  such  questions  is: — 
Any  change  of  habit  is  apt  to  excite  a 
protest  on  behalf  of  the  body,  especially 
when  the  body  is  not  properly  nour- 
ished, and  is  in  a  state  of  more  or  less 
disease.  When  the  habit-hunger  comes 
on  a  few  sips  of  water  will  quiet  the  dis- 
comfort for  the  time  being  and,  very 
likely,  until  it  is  convenient  to  take  food 
comfortably  and  with  the  calm  and  rel- 
ish necessary  to  good  digestion.  Head- 
ache, faintness,  "all-goneness"  and  like 
discomforts,  are  symptoms,  not  of  hun- 

[46] 


WHAT   I   AM   ASKED 

ger,  but  of  the  reverse — that  is,  fer- 
mentation of  undigested  excess  of  food 
which  the  body  cannot  use. 

A  person,  thus  troubled,  should 
brave  discomfort  for  a  week,  and  even 
go  without  food  entirely  for  a  few 
meals,  in  order  to  give  the  body  a 
chance  to  "clean  house'':  then  the  real 
sensation  of  hunger  will  be  expressed 
by  "watering  of  the  mouth"  and  a  keen 
desire  for  some  simple  food  such  as 
bread  and  butter,  or  dry  bread  alone. 
But  this  healthy  appetite  will  "keep" 
and  accumlate  until  it  is  convenient  to 
take  food. 

THE   TRUE   EPICURE 

I  am,  personally,  a  hearty  man  in  full 
activity,  both  mental  and  physical.  I 
can  work  six  hours  and  then  satisfy  the 
keenest  of  appetites  on  a  meal  of  wheat 
griddle-cakes  with  maple  syrup  and  a 
glass  or  two  of  milk.  A  young  work- 
ing woman  should  be  able  to  do  the 
same.     If    I    eat    such    a    meal    with 

[47] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

"gusto,"  deliberation  (so  as  to  enjoy 
the  maximum  of  taste),  taking  not 
more  than  fifteen  minutes  over  it,  I  can 
then  go  to  work,  or  play,  or  to  moun- 
tain cHmbing,  or  to  riding  a  bicycle, 
and  keep  it  up  until  I  am  sleepy,  with 
no  sense  of  repletion  or  discomfort. 

"Money,  leisure  and  easily-acces- 
sible cafes"  are  the  menace  of  right 
nutrition,  unless  one  is  proof  against 
temptation  to  kill  time  in  this  danger- 
ous manner. 

Steady  work  to  earn  a  true  appetite, 
small  means  to  spend  on  food,  the  neces- 
sity of  going  to  seek  it,  with  the  ap- 
preciation which  comes  from  rarity,  are 
the  very  best  safeguards  to  right  nutri- 
tion, 

I  am  an  epicure.  Yet  I  have  never 
seen  a  boarding-house,  nor  a  resturant, 
nor  a  camp  where  I  could  not  find  some- 
thing to  satisfy  a  true  (earned)  ap- 
petite. During  more  than  a  year  in 
the  Far  East — Ceylon,  Java,  the  Philip- 
pines, China,  Burma  India,  Kashmir — 

[48] 


WHAT    I    AM    ASKED 

and  at  many  steamer  and  railway  lunch 
tables,  I  always  found  something  good 
to  satisfy  a  keen  appetite.  If  you  are 
all  right  inside,  and  will  only  conquer 
your  habit-hungers,  I  believe  you  can 
live  sumptuously,  anywhere,  on  less 
than  two  shillings  a  day.  I  can,  and 
often  do ;  and  do  it,  too,  at  one  hundred 
and  seventy  pounds  weight  and 
'^awfully  busy"  all  the  time.  It  may  be 
difficult,  and  perhaps  painful,  at  first, 
to  get  the  best  of  bad  habit-cravings, 
but  it  is  worth  while.  A  week  should 
accomplish  the  reformation. 

A  number  of  men  ask  me :  "Do  you 
honestly  believe  that  in  your  theories 
lies  the  secret  of  long  life?"  I  do,  and 
I  may  give  one  example  of  a  "lived 
model"  of  longevity  as  the  result  of 
Fletcherism  in  all  its  ramifications  of 
temperance  of  eating,  careful  masti- 
cation, radiant  optimism,  practical  altru- 
ism, superabundant  activity,  etc.  The 
Honourable  Albert  Gallatin  Dow,  of 
Randolph,  New  York,  passed  away  in 

[49] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

May,  1908,  lacking  less  than  three 
months  of  a  hundred  years  of  age.  Up 
to  the  last  moment  of  his  century  of  life 
there  was  no  encroachment  of  senility, 
and  he  fell,  ripe  fruit,  into  the  lap  of 
Mother  Nature,  without  a  blemish  of 
decay.  Shortly  before  he  passed  away, 
Mr.  Dow  invited  me  to  see  him,  and 
told  me  that  he  had  received  a  shock 
of  warning  early  in  life  as  I  had  done 
late  in  life,  and  had  made  the  same  dis- 
covery that  had  reformed  me.  He  be- 
lieved that  he  owed  his  health  and  vig- 
our to  following  the  simple  require- 
ments of  Nature,  as  I  was  teaching ;  but 
he  had  his  career  to  make  at  the  time, 
and  had  not  had  the  leisure  and  means 
to  preach  dietetic  righteousness  as  I 
was  doing.  He  wished  me  Godspeed 
on  my  mission.  All  inquiry  in  all  direc- 
tions, wherever  longevity  has  been  ac- 
complished, reveals  the  same  simplicity 
of  habits  of  living,  which  are  the  nat- 
ural points  of  Fletcherizing. 

[so] 


CHAPTER  IV 

RULES   OF    FLETCHERISM 

Never  Eat  until  Hungry — Mouth-Treatment  of  Solid 
and  Liquid  Food — When  to  Stop  Eating — Instruc- 
tions to  the  Medical  Department  of  the  U.  S.  Army 

To  make  my  ideas  a  little  clearer,  I 
will  elaborate  them  a  little  more.  Re- 
member that  the  rules  are  exceedingly 
simple.  That,  to  my  mind,  is  the  worst 
obstruction  to  the  general  adoption  of 
my  system:  it  is  so  simple  that  many 
find  it  difficult  to  comprehend.  But 
take  these  rules  and  you  have  the  idea. 

FIRST   RULE 

Don't  take  any  food  until  you  are 
''good  and  hungry." 

Some  people  will  reply:  "I  am  al- 
ways hungry."  Others  will  aver  that 
they  "never  know  what  it  is  to  be  hun- 
gry."    We  may  assume  that  both  re- 

[51] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

plies  are  incorrect,  because  hunger 
must  be  intermittent,  and  must  some- 
times be  present,  or  life  would  be  in- 
tolerable through  lack  of  satisfaction 
and  something  to  satisfy. 

The  question,  ''What  is  hunger?''  is 
a  natural  and  legitimate  one,  for  the 
reason  that  there  are  true  appetites  and 
false  cravings.  True  hunger  for  food 
is  indicated  by  "watering  of  the  mouth" 
— not  that  watering  of  the  mouth,  or 
profuse  flow  of  saliva,  through  arti- 
ficial excitement  by  some  pungent  stimu- 
lant, such  as  sweets,  or  acids  or  spiced 
things;  but  that  which  is  excited  on 
thought  of  some  of  the  simplest  of 
foods,  such  as  bread  and  butter,  or  dry 
bread  alone. 

"All-goneness"  in  the  region  of  the 
stomach,  "faintness,"  or  any  of  the  dis- 
comforts that  are  felt  below  the  guil- 
lotine Hne,  are  not  signs  of  true  hunger, 
but  symptoms  of  indigestion,  or  some 
other  form  of  disease.     True  hunger  is 

[52] 


RULES   OF   FLETCHERISM 

never  a  discomfort  unless  a  growing 
desire  may  be  classed  as  a  discomfort. 
Accumulating  appetite  (true  hunger) 
is  like  the  multiplication  of  uncut  and 
uncashed  coupons  on  a  railway  bond 
or  on  a  Government  bond.  The  feel- 
ing of  possession  is  a  joy  of  itself;  and 
the  ability  to  collect  the  proceeds  when 
needed  and  at  leisure  is  comfortable 
rather  than  uncomfortable.  Under  cir- 
cumstances of  intelligent  nutrition,  if 
we  pass  one  mealtime  we  wait  patiently 
for  the  next,  with  the  knowledge  that 
we  are  accumulating  appetite  coupons. 

SECOND   RULE 

Have  you  yet  learned  what  true  hun- 
ger is? 

Don't  go  on  unless  you  have  done  so. 
Take  a  little  more  time;  skip  a  meal  or 
two,  and  give  Nature  a  chance  to  show 
you  what  real  appetite  (true  watering 
of  the  mouth)  is.  Having  learned  to 
recognise  healthy  hunger  and  appetite, 

[53] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

and  to  know  what  it  is  to  have  both  of 
them  begging  you  for  satisfaction,  pro- 
ceed with  the  second  rule. 

From  the  food  available  at  the  time 
take  that  first  which  appeals  most 
strongly  to  the  appetite.  It  may  be  a 
sip  of  soup,  or  a  bite  of  bread  and  butter, 
or  a  nibble  of  cheese,  or,  perhaps  a  lump 
of  sugar.  It  may  be  a  piece  of  meat, 
though  I  doubt  that  a  true  appetite  will 
call  for  such  at  the  beginning  of  a  meal. 
Never  mind  what  it  may  be,  give  it  a 
trial.  If  it  be  something  that  should  be 
masticated  in  order  to  give  the  saliva  a 
chance  to  mix  with  it  and  chemically 
transform  it,  chew  it  ''for  all  that  it  is 
worth." 

'Tor  all  that  it  is  worth"  means  for 
the  extraction  and  enjoyment  of  all  the 
good  taste  there  is  in  it. 

If  the  food  selected  by  the  appetite 
happens  to  be  soup,  or  milk,  or  some 
mushy  substance,  get  all  the  good  taste 
out  of  it,  doing  all  you  can  to  accom- 
pHsh   this;    for   to   get   the   taste   out 

[54] 


RULES   OF   FLETCHERISM 

of  food  is  an  assurance  of  digesting 
it,  and  the  pleasure  it  gives  in  the  proc- 
ess of  Nature's  way  of  getting  you  to 
do  the  right  thing  in  helping  her  to 
nourish  yourself  properly.  Sip,  taste, 
bite,  press  with  the  tongue  against  the 
roof  of  the  mouth,  the  food  in  the 
mouth,  not  because  of  any  suggestion 
of  mine,  but  in  response  to  the  natural 
instinct  to  move  it  about  and  get  out  of 
it  all  the  taste  there  is  in  it. 

THIRD   RULE 

The  moment  appetite  begins  to  slack 
up  a  bit,  the  moment  saliva  does  not 
flow  so  freely  as  at  first,  the  moment 
there  is  any  degree  of  satisfaction  of 
the  appetite,  stop  eating! 

You  will  have  a  return  of  appetite; 
you  will  have  another  chance  to  eat; 
appetite  is  beginning  to  have  "that  tired 
feeling"  herself;  be  kind  to  her  as  she 
has  been  kind  to  you.  Give  her  a  rest ! 
Give  her  a  rest!  Give  yourself  a  rest! 
Rest  is  the  antidote  of  ''that  tired  feel- 

[55] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

ing"!  Therefore  rest  the  appetite  be- 
fore it  gets  tired.  Stop  eating  before 
you  are  overloaded. 

Now,  having  learned  how  to  do  the 
right  thing  in  eating  so  as  never  more 
to  have  "that  tired  feeling,"  don't  be- 
gin to  overdo.  Don't  bend  backward 
too  far.  Don't  ever  overdo  a  good 
thing. 

Be  temperate;  be  deliberate.  Be 
thoughtful ;  be  forethoughtful ;  be  fore- 
thoughtful without  being  fearthought- 
ful.  Don't  overdo  chewing,  for  then 
you  take  away  much  of  the  pleasure; 
smother  the  psychic  enjoyment  of  eat- 
ing, and  raise  the  very  mischief 
again. 

Just  be  natural,  and  know  that  being 
natural  is  being  deliberate  in  enjoying 
the  thing  you  are  doing,  for  that  is 
Nature's  way. 

To  the  above  simple  rules  I  will  ap- 
pend a  few  recommendations  which  oc- 
curred to  me  and  which  I  wrote  while 

[56] 


RULES   OF   FLETCHERISM 

in  a  respiration  calorimeter,  an  experi- 
ence which  I  will  relate  in  a  subsequent 
chapter.  This  list  of  recommendations 
has  since  been  included  in  the  Instruc- 
tions to  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
United  States  Army,  under  the  head- 
ing: 

Method  of  attaining  Economic  Assimi- 
lation of  Nutriment  and  Immunity 
from  Disease,  Muscular  Sore- 
ness and  Fatigue. 

( 1 )  Feed  only  when  a  distinct  appe- 
tite has  been  earned. 

(2)  Masticate  all  solid  food  until  it 
is  completely  liquefied  and  excites  in  an 
irresistible  manner  the  swallowing  re- 
flex or  swallowing  impulse. 

(3)  Attention  to  the  act  and  appreci- 
ation of  the  taste  are  necessary,  mean- 
time, to  excite  the  flow  of  gastric  juice 
into  the  stomach  to  meet  the  food — as 
demonstrated  by  Pawlow. 

(4)  Strict  attention  to  these  two 
particulars  will  fulfil  the  requirements 

[57] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  Nature  relative  to  the  preparation  of 
the  food  for  digestion  and  assimilation ; 
and  this  being  faithfully  done,  the  auto- 
matic processes  of  digestion  and  as- 
similation will  proceed  most  profitably, 
and  will  result  in  discarding  very  little 
digestion-ash  (faeces)  to  encumber  the 
intestines,  or  to  compel  excessive  draft 
upon  the  body  energy  for  excretion. 

(5)  The  assurance  of  healthy  econ- 
omy is  observed  in  the  small  amount  of 
excreta  and  its  peculiar  inoffensive 
character,  showing  escape  from  putrid 
bacterial  decomposition  such  as  brings 
indol  and  skatol  offensively  into  evi- 
dence. 

(6)  When  digestion  and  assimila- 
tion has  been  normally  economic,  the 
digestion-ash  (faeces)  may  be  formed 
into  little  balls  ranging  in  size  from  a 
pea  to  a  so-called  Queen  Olive,  accord- 
ing to  the  food  taken,  and  should  be 
quite  dry,  having  only  the  odour  of 
moist  clay  or  of  a  hot  biscuit.  This  in- 
offensive character  remains  indefinitely 

[58] 


RULES   OF    FLETCHERISM 

until  the  ash  completely  dries,  or  disin- 
tegrates like  rotten  stone  or  wood. 

(7)  The  weight  of  the  digestive-ash 
may  range  (moist)  from  10  grams  to 
not  more  than  40-50  grams  a  day,  ac- 
cording to  the  food;  the  latter  estimate 
being  based  on  a  vegetarian  diet,  and 
may  not  call  for  excretion  for  several 
days;  smallness  indicating  best  con- 
dition. Foods  differ  so  materially  that 
the  amount  and  character  of  the  ex- 
creta cannot  be  accurately  specified. 
Some  foods  and  conditions  demand  two 
evacuations  daily.  Thorough  and 
faithful  Fletcherizing  settles  the  ques- 
tion satisfactorily. 

(8)  Fruits  may  hasten  peristalsis*; 
but  not  if  they  are  treated  in  the  mouth 
as  sapid  liquids  rather  than  as  solids, 
and  are  insalivated,  sipped,  tasted,  into 
absorption  in  the  same  way  wine-tast- 
ers test  and  take  wine,  and  tea-tasters 
test  tea.     The  latter  spit  out  the  tea 

*  Forwarding  muscular  movement  which  advances 
food  along  the  whole  extent  of  the  alimentary  canal. 

[59] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

after  tasting,  as,  otherwise,  it  vitiates 
their  taste,  and  ruins  them  for  their  dis- 
criminating profession. 

(9)  Milk,  soups,  wines,  beer,  and  all 
sapid  liquids  or  semi-solids  should  be 
treated  in  this  manner  for  the  best  as- 
similation and  digestion  as  well  as  for 
the  best  gustatory  results. 

(10)  This  would  seem  to  entail  a 
great  deal  of  care  and  bother,  and  lead 
to  a  waste  of  time. 

(11)  Such,  however,  is  not  the  case. 
To  give  attention  in  the  beginning  does 
require  strict  attention  and  persistent 
care  to  overcome  life-long  habits  of 
nervous  haste;  but  if  the  attack  is  ear- 
nest, habits  of  careful  mouth  treatment 
and  appetite  discrimination  soon  be- 
come fixed,  and  cause  deliberation  in 
taking  food  unconsciously  to  the  feeder. 

(12)  Food  of  a  proteid  value  of  5-7 
grams  of  nitrogen  and  1,500-2,500 
calories  of  fuel  value,'*'  paying  strict  at- 

*  The  organic  materials  of  human  diet  are  usually 
classified  into  three  divisions: — 

[60] 


RULES   OF    FLETCHERISM 

tention  to  the  appetite  for  selection  and 
carefully  treated  in  the  mouth,  has  been 
found  to  be  the  quantity  best  suited  to 
economy  and  efficiency  of  both  mind 
and  body  in  sedentary  pursuits  and 
ordinary  business  activity;  and,  also, 
such  habit  of  economy  has  given  prac- 
tical immunity  from  the  common  dis- 
eases for  a  period  extending  over  more 

(i)  The  Proteids,  or  Albuminates — the  character- 
ising element  occurring  being  nitrogen.  The  nitrog- 
enous foods  are:  flesh  (without  the  fat),  eggs,  milk, 
cheese,  legumes   (peas,  beans,  lentils,  etc.). 

(2)  The  Fats,  or  Hydro-carbons.  All  animal  and 
vegetable  fats  and  oil.  Emulsions  of  mineral  oils 
have  been  shown  to  pass  through  the  system  un- 
changed, and  therefore  cannot  be  regarded  as  food. 

(3)  The  Carbo-hydrates  (sugars  and  starches)  : 
bread,  potatoes,  and  grain  generally. 

Protein  is  the  tissue  builder;  heat  and  energy  are 
derived  largely  from  the  non-nitrogenous  foods. 

A  Calorie  (large)  is  the  unit  of  heat  required  to 
raise  one  kilogram  of  water  to  1°  C.  The  full  value 
of  a  food  is  ascertained  by  means  of  the  calorimeter, 
or  apparatus  used  to  determine  the  specific  heat  of 
substances,  or  the  amounts  of  heat  evolved  or  ab- 
sorbed in  various  physical  and  chemical  changes. 
Calorimeters  take  very  diverse  forms,  varying  from 
quite  simple  vessels  to  highly  complex  apparatus, 
according  to  the  particular  kind  of  determination  to 
be  carried  out  in  them. 

[61] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

than  fifteen  years,  whereas  the  same 
subject  was  formerly  subject  to  period- 
ical illness.  Similar  economy  and  im- 
munity have  shown  themselves  consist- 
ently in  the  cases  of  many  test  subjects 
covering  periods  of  ten  years,  and 
applies  equally  to  both  sexes,  all  ages, 
and  other  idiosyncratic  conditions. 

(13)  The  time  necessary  for  satis- 
fying complete  body  needs  and  appetite 
daily,  when  the  habit  of  attention,  ap- 
preciation and  deliberation  have  been 
installed,  is  less  than  half  an  hour,  no 
matter  how  divided  as  to  number  of 
rations.  This  necessitates  industry  of 
mastication,  to  be  sure,  and  will  not 
admit  of  waste  of  much  time  between 
mouthfuls. 

(14)  Ten  or  fifteen  minutes  will 
completely  satisfy  a  ravenous  appetite 
if  all  conditions  of  ingestion  and  prep- 
aration are  favourable. 

(15)  Both  quantitive  and  qualitive 
supply  of  saliva  are  important  factors; 
but  attention  to  these  fundamental  re- 

[62] 


RULES   OF    FLETCHERISM 

quirements  of  right  eating  soon  regu- 
lates the  supply  of  all  of  the  digestive 
juices,  and  in  connection  with  the  care 
recommended  above,  ensures  economy 
of  nutrition  and,  probably,  immunity 
from  disease. 


[63] 


CHAPTER  V 

WHAT   IS   PROPER   MASTICATION? 

Not  Excessive  Chewing' — Gladstone's  Advice — Salival 
Action  on  Starch  Foods 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that 
Fletcherizing  stands  for  tasting  as  the 
important  thing  to  accomplish  before 
food  is  swallowed,  and  that  biting,  chew- 
ing, or  masticating  is  merely  a  means  to 
secure  the  end  of  thorough  tasting,  nine- 
tenths  of  all  who  know  anything  about 
the  claims  for  Fletcherizing  insist  on 
thinking  that  it  merely  means  "excessive 
mastication."  The  National  Food  Re- 
form Association  of  England,  in  a  bulle- 
tin giving  advice  concerning  the  feed- 
ing of  school  children,  intended  to  be 
posted  in  school-rooms  and  private  din- 
ing rooms,  speak  of  Fletcherizing  in  its 
ideal  practice  as  "Excessive  Mastica- 
tion/' 

[64] 


WHAT   IS    PROPER    MASTICATION? 

This  is  just  what  Fletcherizing  is  not. 
The  very  essence  of  the  method  of  per- 
forming the  personal  responsibihty  is 
avoiding  excess  of  anything,  excessive 
or  laboured  chewing  among  the  rest. 

There  is  little  if  any  harm  in  keeping 
food  in  the  mouth  as  long  as  possible, 
and  I  believe  that  it  is  impossible  to  have 
too  much  saliva  mixed  with  it  when  it  is 
swallowed,  because  when  it  is  properly 
tasted  and  insalivated  it  is  almost  im- 
possible to  hold  it  back  from  the  food 
gate  at  the  back  of  the  mouth.  There 
is  always  suction  there  ready  to  draw 
welcome  nourishment  in  when  it  is 
ready,  and  readiness  touches  a  button, 
electrically  relieving  the  muscular 
springs  that  close  the  gate  tightly  dur- 
ing tasting,  and,  literally  a  "team  of 
horses  could  not  hold  it." 

What  the  mystics  of  the  stomach-dis- 
eases profession  called  bradefagy,  or, 
in  plain  English,  excessive  chewing,  can 
only  be  performed  with  painful  tedious- 
ness.     It  makes  work — hard  work — of 

[65] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

the  act,  and  that  is  just  as  much  opposed 
to  Fletcherizing  as  it  is  to  common 
sense,  horse  sense,  and  all  of  the  natural 
senses. 

Now  just  for  one  moment  please  pay 
attention  to  one  who  is  telling  you  some- 
thing Mother  Nature  wants  you  to  know 
more  than  anything  else  in  the  whole 
category  of  intelligence.  Fletcherizing 
is 

NOT   EXCESSIVE   CHEWING 

or  tedious  chewing,  or  long  chewing. 
The  things  that  require  to  be  chewed 
long  are  not  good  food,  and  by  that 
sign  you  may  find  out  their  unprofit- 
ableness better  than  in  any  other  way. 
Good  taste  from  good  food  is  not  long 
lasting.  When  the  mouth  is  "water- 
ing'' for  the  food  in  sight,  or  even  in 
thought  of  it,  the  coupons  of  taste  they 
carry  with  them  are  short,  but  represent 
large  figures  of  satisfaction  and  nour- 
ishment. 

[66] 


WHAT   IS   PROPER   MASTICATION? 

MR.  Gladstone's  advice 

Now  listen  to  some  figures  regarding 
the  number  of  bites  or  chews  that  some 
foods  require  under  varying  circum- 
stances. Mr.  Gladstone's  advice  to  his 
children  which  has  become  classic,  viz. : 
"Chew  your  food  thirty-two  times  at 
least,  so  as  to  give  each  of  your  thirty- 
two  teeth  a  chance  at  it,"  was  a  general 
recommendation.  Mr.  Gladstone  was 
observed  once  when  he  was  a  guest  at 
"high  table"  at  Trinity  College,  Cam- 
bridge, and  the  average  number  of  his 
"bites"  (masticatory  movements)  as  far 
as  they  could  be  counted,  was  about  sev- 
enty-five. That  did  not  speak  very  well 
for  Trinity  fare,  unless  Mr.  Gladstone 
happened  to  choose  food  that  required 
that  amount  of  chewing. 

Even  if  Mr.  Gladstone  did  devote 
seventy-five  masticatory  movements  to 
each  morsel,  as  an  average,  such  thor- 
oughness would  not  have  involved  an 

[67] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

unusual  length  of  time  for  a  hearty  meal. 
If  you  will  try  the  experiment  when  you 
are  "good  and  hungry/'  having  a  "work- 
ingman's  appetite,"  and  disposing  of 
good  bread  and  butter  the  while,  which 
should  have  nearly,  or  quite,  seventy 
bites  to  the  ordinary  mouthful,  you  will 
find  that  thirty  mouthfuls  will  pretty 
nearly,  or  completely,  satisfy  your  work- 
ing-man's appetite.  Mixed  foods  take 
much  less  time,  usually  about  half,  and 
still  the  seventy-five-rhythm  act  will  con- 
sume only  about  twenty  minutes  to  per- 
form with  physiologic  thoroughness. 

SALIVAL  ACTION   ON   STARCH    FOODS 

Here  are  some  statements  easy  to 
prove  or  disprove  by  anyone,  with  real 
compensation  in  the  way  of  new  revela- 
tions relative  to  the  possibilities  of  gus- 
tatory enjoyment. 

Starchy  foods,  such  as  bread,  pota- 
toes, etc.,  require  from  thirty  to  seventy 
masticatory  movements  to  assist  saliva 
to  turn  the  starch  into  "grape  sugar/' 
[68] 


WHAT   IS    PROPER    MASTICATION? 

which  is  the  form  in  which  it  can  be  used 
as  nourishment.* 

You  will  at  once  think,  no  doubt,  that 
a  range  of  numbers  extending  from 
thirty  to  seventy  is  pretty  wide.  So  it 
is ;  but  conditions  regarding  the  qualities 
of  not  only  breads,  but  potatoes,  and  also 
conditions  relative  to  the  strength  or 
supply  of  saliva,  differ  greatly.  When 
the  appetite  is  keen,  the  mouth  watering, 
as  they  are  at  the  beginning  of  a  meal, 

*  Although  I  have  been  a  close  student  of  the  sub- 
ject  for  more  than  fifteen  years  in  the  best  physi- 
ological-chemical laboratories  for  long  periods  of 
time— and  always  emulating  the  man  from  Missouri 
in  demanding  of  the  wise  ones  in  the  science  of  the 
laboratories  to  "Show  me!" — I  maks  the  statements 
relative  to  what  happens  below  the  guillotine  line  in 
Mother  Nature's  exclusive  territory  of  responsibility 
on  the  authority  of  the  laboratory  territory  experts ; 
but  only,  mind  you,  when  my  personal  observations 
and  business  logic  approve  the  conclusion.  There- 
fore, when  I  tell  you  that  starch  turned  into  dextrose, 
or  "grape  sugar,"  is  assimilable  as  nourishment,  and 
that  starch  which  is  not  thus  chemically  transformed 
by  saliva  is  not  capable  of  becoming  nourishment,  I 
am  not  "speaking  by  the  book,"  which  Mother  Na- 
ture has  opened  for  me  to  read — unless  biological- 
chemists  can  be  considered  to  be  extra-enlightened 
forms  of  nature. 

[69] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

bread  or  potatoes  may  be  negotiated  into 
nutriment  ready  for  the  stomach  in 
much  less  time  than  later  on.  Appetite 
''peters,"  as  miners  say,  gradually,  and 
does  not  stop  with  a  bang  and  shut  off 
like  an  electric  light  when  connection  is 
broken.  It  checks  up,  slows  down,  and 
tapers  off  gradually,  and  that  is  where 
the  canny  intelligence  of  a  faithful 
Fletcherizer  stands  himself  in  good  use- 
fulness. When  Appetite  gently  says: 
"Now,  really,  you  are  still  rather  good 
to  my  assistant  Taste,  and  he  would  not 
object  to  a  few  bites  more;  but  if  you 
stop  now  and  change  off  to  something 
else  which  I  have  in  mind,  and  for  which 
I  have  a  use  in  our  organism,  I  will  not 
object."  In  plain  words:  'T  have 
enough  for  the  present;  switch  off  on 

to " 

The  difference  between  putting  on  fat 
in  the  case  of  the  person  who  is  disposed 
or  permitted  to  put  on  more  fat  than  is 
comfortable,  and  losing  some  of  the  sur- 
plus carried  on  the  abdomen  or  else- 

[70] 


WHAT    IS    PROPER    MASTICATION? 

where,  is  the  discrimination  exercised 
in  regard  to  the  final  satisfaction  of  ap- 
petite. Those  last  two,  three,  or  a  few 
mouthf uls  after  Appetite  has  said  gently 
"Enough,''  and  before  the  same  Appetite 
says,  loudly,  "Stop!"  are  the  diiference 
between  obesity  and  decency  of  form. 

I  really  believe,  from  the  results  of  my 
experiences  for  the  past  fifteen  years  in 
getting  tips  from  Mother  Nature,  and 
trying  to  induce  mankind  in  general  and 
my  friends  in  particular  to  accept  them 
as  "straight''  from  Mother  Nature,  that 
persons  who  have  enough  respect  for 
themselves  to  be  interested  in  physical 
culture  must  come  to  the  rescue  of  the 
pseudo-scientists  who  are  dulled  by  their 
own  dope,  and  who  are  sufifering  from 
the  malaria  which  collects  in  the  dark 
ruts  they  are  following  in  the  tortuous 
complications  of  the  alimentary  canal. 
The  physical  culturists  must  build  mod- 
els of  normality  for  the  scientists  to 
study. 

When  giving  information  as  to  what 

[71] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

happens  in  the  mouth,  and  as  to  what 
happens  as  a  result  of  proper  head  diges- 
tion, I  feel  as  if  I  am  sitting  on  the  upper 
lip  of  Mother  Nature  herself,  and  en- 
trusting her  messages  to  the  current  of 
her  own  sweet  breath  for  distribution 
among  her  human  children. 


[72] 


CHAPTER  VI 

WHAT    IS    HEAD   DIGESTION? 

My  Study  of  the  Subject — The  Mouth  as  a  Digestive 
Organ  —  Dr.  Cannon's  Researches  —  Pawlow's 
Proofs 

In  the  latest  comprehensive  treatise 
on  human  nutrition,  under  the  title  of 
"Food  and  the  Principles  of  Dietetics/' 
by  Dr.  Robert  Hutchinson,  of  London, 
more  than  six  hundred  pages  are  de- 
voted to  the  subject.  Of  these,  just  fifty 
lines  are  given  to  "Mouth  Digestion." 
In  a  footnote  of  sixty-four  words  Dr. 
Huchinson  has  stated  the  case  of  the 
importance  of  careful  eating,  v^ith  ad- 
mission of  a  fact  that  v^ould  mean  eman- 
cipation from  most  of  the  human  disabil- 
ities if  it  were  repeated  in  nurseries  and 
primary  schools  as  religiously  as  are  the 
ordinary  rules  of  ''polite  conduct,''  and 
held  by  Society  to  be  the  basis  of  re- 
spectability, which  it  really  is. 

[73^  * 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

When  I  first  took  up  the  study  of  die- 
tetics in  academic  circles,  nearly  fifteen 
years  ago,  physiologists  did  not  concede 
that  there  was  any  mouth  digestion  at 
all.  Putting  food  in  the  mouth  was  for 
the  purpose  of  mixing  it  with  saliva  so 
that  it  could  be  formed  into  a  "bolus"  for 
convenient  swallowing.  Now  it  is  rec- 
ognised that  there  is  some  mouth  diges- 
tion. In  the  meantime  Pawlow  *  has 
demonstrated  that  the  psychic  influence 
has  much  to  do  with  digestion.  Can- 
non, also,  has  shown  by  the  evidence  of 
the  Rontgen  rays  that  mental  states  re- 
tard and  even  stop  entirely  the  digestive 
processes  that  are  going  on  in  the  stom- 
ach, and  has  asserted,  as  has  also  Paw- 
low,  that  the  stomach  digestive  juices 
flow  in  response  to  the  reports  and  stim- 
ulation of  taste,  pouring  out  into  the 
cavity  of  the  stomach  juices  appropriate 
for  the  digestion  of  the  particular  food 


*  Dr.  Prof.  J.  P.  Pawlow,  Director  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Experimental  Physiology  in  the  Russian  Im- 
perial Military  School  of  Medicine,  &c. 

[74] 


WHAT    IS    HEAD   DIGESTION? 

being  tasted,  in  advance  of  its  arrival  in 
the  stomach. 

This  evidence,  confirming  my  own  se- 
cured by  concentrated  and  unremitting 
study  of  the  effect  of  head  digestion  on 
health  and  recuperative  reconstruction, 
is  proof  enough  that  there  is  an  impor- 
tant department  of  nutrition  that  can  be 
properly  called  head  digestion. 

MY  STUDY  OF  THE  SUBJECT 

began  with  the  tip  from  Mother  Logic — 
that  the  full  extent  of  the  personal  re- 
sponsibility in  nutrition  is  located  in  the 
head  before  the  food  is  swallowed. 
That  is  what  led  me  to  concentrate  on 
the  mouth  as  the  field  of  our  responsibil- 
ity which  had  been  neglected  by  Science. 
Even  the  Dental  Profession  as  a  whole 
had  not  at  that  time  "tumbled"  to  the 
fact  that  they  were  occupied  profession- 
ally and  constantly  in  a  field  of  ''Pre- 
ventive Medicine''  as  important  as  now 
they  find  it. 

Everybody  had  supposed  that  the  di- 

[75] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

gestion  of  food  was  effected  only  in  the 
stomach  and  small  intestines.  This  may 
be  true,  in  a  narrow  sense,  but  it  can  be 
arrested  and  completely  stopped  by  the 
head.  Furthermore,  digestion  can  be  as 
much  assisted  by  favourable  head  influ- 
ence as  it  can  be  obstructed  by  unfavour- 
able head  treatment. 

This  being  so,  as  everybody  knows, 
or  can  easily  learn,  what  follows  as  a 
logical  sequence  ? 

Here  is  a  physiological  eye-opener,  as 
it  dawns  upon  the  business  physiologist. 
The  obvious  inference  is  that  if  the  head 
can  make  digestion  easy  or  stop  it  alto- 
gether, the  stomach  being  a  subservient, 
mechanical,  and  chemical  servant  of  the 
head  in  the  matter,  we  may  properly  de- 
clare that  the  master-key  of  digestion  is 
held  by  the  head,  and  we  may  safely  say 
that  there  is  Head  Digestion. 

THE  MOUTH  AS  A  DIGESTIVE  ORGAN 

The  logical  continuation  of  the  search 
for  the  location  of  responsibility  for 

[76] 


WHAT    IS    HEAD   DIGESTIONS 

good  or  poor  digestion  leads  us  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  "Division  of 
Labour"  as  apportioned  by  the  Laws  of 
Normality.  All  the  laboratory  evidence 
I  have  seen  confirms  my  own  observa- 
tions of  the  past  fifteen  years  that 
Nature  assures  good  results  if  we  are 
thoroughly  faithful  to  our  head  re- 
sponsibility during  the  treatment  of 
food  up  to  the  point  of  swallowing. 
From  that  time  digestion  has  been  ren- 
dered so  easy  by  thorough  mouth 
preparation  that  it  may  proceed 
smoothly  even  if  the  mental  states 
are  not  pleasant.  Here,  too,  we  dis- 
cover that  easy  digestion  reacts  favour- 
ably on  the  mentality  and  exerts  a  calm- 
ing influence. 

Some  observers  declare  that  idiots  di- 
gest their  food  quite  easily.  The  less 
mental  clarity  they  possess  the  better  for 
their  metabolism.  This  does  not  argue 
in  favour  of  the  absence  of  mental  influ- 
ence, for  the  idiot  is  a  sensualist,  and  in 
the  relief  from  mental  excitement  finds 

l77^ 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

enjoyment  of  taste  and  the  satisfaction 
of  appetite  as  agreeable  as  do  the  ani- 
mals under  similar  favourable  condi- 
tions. 

Quite  recently,  when  I  was  personally 
under  observation  by  Dr.  Professor 
Zuntz  in  Berlin,  to  test  the  ease  of  my  di- 
gestion of  food  as  compared  with  others 
who  paid  less  attention  to  mouth  treat- 
ment of  it,  the  good  professor  instructed 
me  to  ''be  as  nearly  like  a  little  animal 
as  possible,  thinking  nothing  of  any- 
thing." This  isn't  as  easy  for  a  ''live- 
wire  thinking  outfit"  as  for  an  idiot,  or 
as  for  an  ingenuous  little  animal  having 
no  thought  for  the  morrow,  but  the  busi- 
ness physiologist  does  not  scorn  to  go 
anywhere  for  light  on  Nature's  require- 
ments. One  thing  is  sure,  the  person 
who  has  been  faithful  to  his  personal 
responsibility  by  starting  the  process  of 
digestion  as  Nature  demands  can  relax 
and  enjoy  metabolic  and  mental  calm  in 
delightful  harmony  more  easily  than  one 

[78] 


WHAT    IS    HEAD   DIGESTION? 

who  has  gluttony  on  his  conscience  and 
the  wages  of  sinning  on  his  stomach. 
These  wages  look  big  to  the  swollen 
greed  of  cultivated  gluttony,  but  they 
are  as  bad  as  they  are  big,  and  the  best 
way  to  be  convinced  of  this  fundamen- 
tally important  fact  is  to  realise  the  po- 
tency of  head  digestion  for  well  or  ill, 
and  give  it  a  practical  trial. 

The  key  to  good  digestion  is  in  the 
head,  and  the  sooner  mankind  comes  to 
realise  this  important  truth  the  quicker 
will  come  the  millennium  of  nutrition 
normality. 

DR.  cannon's  researches 

I  have  just  been  reading  Professor 
Walter  B.  Cannon's  book  in  the  Arnold 
Medical  Monograph  Series,  entitled 
"The  Mechanical  Factors  of  Digestion." 
I  have  learned  many  valuable  lessons 
from  the  intestinal  observations  of  Dr. 
Cannon,  and  have  seen  the  shadows  he 
describes  on  his  fluorescent  screen  under 

[79] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

his  practised  guidance,  and,  with  his 
generous  permission,  quoted  him  exten- 
sively in  my  book,  The  A.  E, — Z.  of  Our 
Own  Nutrition. 

It  seems  that  we  began  our  quest  for 
light  on  the  mechanics  and  mentaUty  of 
digestion  by  objective  observation  about 
the  same  year,  1898.  He  took  a  hop, 
skip  and  jump  over  the  three  inches  of 
the  aHmentary  canal  that  is  our  personal 
responsibility  and,  with  the  aid  of  bis- 
muth blackened  food  and  a  Rontgen-ray 
apparatus,  began  to  study  the  move- 
ments incident  to  digestion  by  the  shad- 
ows cast  on  the  screen.  For  this  pur- 
pose he  principally  used  female  cats, 
because  they  were  more  amenable  than 
male  cats  to  the  torture  of  being  tied  flat 
to  a  cloth  with  the  possible  fear  that  they 
were  condemned  to  death  as  well  as  to 
inactivity.  Even  the  use  of  pink  or  blue 
ribbons  as  bands  of  bondage  under  the 
circumstances  does  not  lure  their  cat- 
ladyships  into  the  quietude  demanded 
for  normal  movements  of  digestion,  and 

[80] 


WHAT    IS    HEAD   DIGESTION  T 

male  cats  will  not  *'stand  for  it"  at  all. 

For  ten  years  or  more  Professor  Can- 
non and  his  assistants  were  devoted  to 
these  Dark  Chamber  X-ray  observa- 
tions, and  in  the  meantime  wading 
through  hundreds  of  volumes  of  Physio- 
logical Archives  for  reports  of  other  in- 
testinal investigations.  The  fruit  of 
this  thoroughness  of  research  is  more 
than  400  references  to  reported  data 
and  conclusions  extending  back  to  the 
dawn  of  Physiology.  To  one  who  has 
followed  the  accounts  of  the  "Biddings'' 
in  the  "Old  Man  Greenlaw's  Liquor  Sa- 
loon in  Arkansas  City,"  as  given  weekly 
in  the  New  York  Sunday  Sun,  these  re- 
searches seem  to  be  governed  by  the 
strict  rules  of  "Draw  Poker."  Eventu- 
ally all  of  the  cards  (or  evidence)  go 
into  the  "discard,"  confirming  Sir  Mi- 
chael Foster's  dictum,  to  the  efifect  that 
"the  more  we  learn  of  Physiology  the 
more  we  know  how  little  we  really 
know." 

I  recommend  everybody  to  get  Dr. 

[81] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

Cannon's  book  and  turn  at  once  to  page 
74,  and  read  about  the  importance  of 
mastication  in  securing  easy  digestion 
free  from  fermentation.  Then  turn  to 
page  217  and  read  his  conclusions  rela- 
tive to  the  influence  of  the  emotions  on 
digestion.  Put  these  two  statements  to- 
gether, and  then  judge  for  yourself  if  it 
is  claiming  too  much  to  say  that  there 
is  really  Head  Digestion,  and  that  it  is 
in  the  field  of  personal  responsibility,  in 
the  mouth  and  in  the  brain,  that  good 
or  bad  digestion — right  or  mal-nutrition 
— are  inaugurated. 

You  will  find  the  literary  quality  of 
Dr.  Cannon's  book  so  fascinating,  no 
matter  whether  you  know  the  meaning 
of  the  terms  used  or  not,  that  you  will 
enjoy  it  like  a  novel.  It  has  the  charm 
of  the  diction  of  Sir  Michael  Foster 
and  Sherlock  Holmes  combined,  with 
enough  of  the  solving  of  the  secrets  of 
the  alimentary  canal  to  satisfy  the  most 
exacting  imagination. 

If  a  taste  for  the  inner  mysteries  has 

[82] 


WHAT   IS    HEAD   DIGESTION? 

been  acquired  by  the  reading  of  Profes- 
sor Cannon's  book,  further  desires  in 
that  direction  may  be  satisfied  by  read- 
ing the  physiological  prose  poem  by  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden,  in  praise  of  head 
digestion  as  the  acme  of  sensual  pleas- 
ure. It  is  a  gem,  and  is  quoted  in  Chap- 
ter VII  following,  in  support  of  the 
contention  of  this  chapter.  This  poem 
appears  in  the  book  The  Nutrition  of 
Man  (as  studied  mainly  in  starving 
dogs),  and  one  wonders  why  such  a 
pearl  of  practical,  every-day.  Kinder- 
garten, domestic  usefulness  should  be 
"thrown  to  the  dogs/'  so  to  speak. 


[83] 


CHAPTER  VII 

CHITTENDEN  ON  CAREFUL  CHEWING 
A   Physiological   Prose  Poem 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  pleas- 
urable Epicurean  felicity  than  that  de- 
scribed by  Professor  Russell  H.  Chitten- 
den, of  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School,  of 
Yale  University,  in  America,  as  the  re- 
sult of  careful  masticating  and  thorough 
tasting  of  the  commonest  of  foods. 

Professor  Henry  Pickering  Bowditch, 
of  Harvard  University  Medical  School, 
like  Sir  Michael  Foster  and  all  the  most 
eminent  physiologists,  were  quick  to  ap- 
preciate the  revelations  of  the  Cam- 
bridge investigation  of  Fletcherizing  as 
indicating  the  discovery  of  the  missing 
link  in  the  chain  of  processes  necessary 
for  securing  good  digestion  and  healthy 
nutrition,  but  they  looked  on  it  as  a  ques- 

[84] 


CHITTENDEN    ON    CAREFUL   CHEWING 

tion  of  profitable  economy  rather  than 
material  for  poetic  enthusiasm. 

It  was  given  to  Professor  Chittenden 
to  discover  the  rarest  merit  of  decent 
eating ;  the  politeness  of  it,  as  well  as  the 
poetry;  that  element  of  respectability 
which  will  eventually  recommend  it  to 
the  socially-refined  as  one  of  the  civilised 
fine  arts ;  that  expression  of  appreciation 
which  is  due  to  Mother  Nature  for  her 
many  beneficences. 

THE  POETRY  OF  EATING 
By  Russell  H.   Chittenden 

"With  the  mind  in  a  state  of  pleasur- 
able anticipation,  with  freedom  from 
care  and  worry,  which  are  liable  to  act 
as  deterrents  to  free  secretion,  and  with 
the  food  in  a  form  which  appeals  to  the 
eye  as  well  as  to  the  olfactories,  its  thor- 
ough mastication  calls  forth  and  pro- 
longs vigorous  salivary  secretion,  with 
which  the  food  becomes  intimately  in- 
termingled. Salivary  digestion  is  thus 
at  once  incited,   and  the   starch  very 

[85] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

quickly  commences  to  undergo  the  char- 
acteristic change  in  soluble  products. 
As  mouthful  follows  mouthful,  degluti- 
tion alternates  with  mastication,  and  the 
mixture  passes  into  the  stomach,  where 
salivary  digestion  can  continue  for  a 
limited  time  only,  until  the  secretion  of 
gastric  juice  eventually  establishes  in 
the  stomach-contents  a  distinct  acid  re- 
action, when  salivary  digestion  ceases 
through  destruction  of  the  starch-con- 
verting enzyme.  Need  we  comment,  in 
view  of  the  natural  brevity  of  this  proc- 
ess, upon  the  desirability  for  purely 
physiological  reasons  of  prolonging 
within  reasonable  limits  the  interval  of 
time  the  food  and  saliva  are  commingled 
in  the  mouth  cavity?  It  seems  obvious, 
in  view  of  the  relatively  large  bulk  of 
starch-containing  foods  consumed  daily, 
that  habits  of  thorough  mastication 
should  be  fostered,  with  the  purpose  of 
increasing  greatly  the  digestion  of 
starch  in  the  very  gateway  of  the  ali- 
mentary tract.  It  is  true  that  in  the 
[86] 


CHITTENDEN    ON    CAREFUL    CHEWING 

small  intestines  there  comes  later  an- 
other opportunity  for  the  digestion  of 
starch ;  but  it  is  unphysiological,  as  it  is 
undesirable,  for  various  reasons,  not  to 
take  full  advantage  of  the  first  oppor- 
tunity which  Nature  gives  for  the  prep- 
aration of  this  important  foodstuff  for 
further  utilisation.  Further,  thorough 
mastication,  by  a  fine  comminution  of 
the  food  particles,  is  a  material  aid  in  the 
digestion  which  is  to  take  place  in  the 
stomach  and  intestines.  Under  normal 
conditions,  therefore,  and  with  proper 
observance  of  physiological  good  sense, 
a  large  portion  of  the  ingested  starchy 
foods  can  be  made  ready  for  speedy  ab- 
sorption and  consequent  utilisation 
through  the  agency  of  salivary  diges- 
tion. 

"Nowhere  in  the  body  do  we  find  a 
more  forcible  illustration  of  economical 
method  in  physiological  processes  than 
in  the  mechanics  of  gastric  secretion. 
Years  ago  it  was  thought  that  the  flow 
of  gastric  juice  was  due  mainly  to  me- 

[87] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

chanical  stimulation  of  the  gastric 
glands  by  contact  of  the  food  material 
with  the  lining  membrane  of  the  stom- 
ach. This,  however,  is  not  the  case,  as 
Pavlov  has  clearly  shown,  and  it  is  now 
understood  that  the  flow  of  gastric  juice 
is  started  by  impulses  which  have  their 
origin  in  the  mouth  and  nostrils ;  the  sen- 
sations of  eating,  the  smell,  sight  and 
taste  of  food  serving  as  physical  stimuli, 
which  call  forth  a  secretion  from  the 
stomach  glands,  just  as  the  same  stimuli 
may  induce  an  outpouring  of  saliva. 
These  sensations,  as  Pavlov  has  ascer- 
tained, affect  secretory  centres  in  the 
brain,  and  impulses  are  thus  started 
which  travel  downward  to  the  stomach 
through  the  vagus  nerves,  and  as  a  re- 
sult gastric  juice  begins  to  flow.  This 
process,  however,  is  supplemented  by 
other  forms  of  secretion,  likewise  reflex, 
which  are  incited  by  substances,  ready 
formed  in  the  food,  and  by  substances — 
products  of  digestion — which  are  manu- 
factured from  the  food  in  the  stomach. 
[88] 


CHITTENDEN    ON    CAREFUL   CHEWING 

Soups,  meat  juice,  and  the  extractives  of 
meat,  likewise  dextrin  and  kindred  prod- 
ucts, when  present  in  the  stomach,  are 
especially  active  in  provoking  secretion. 
When  the  latter  foods  have  been  in  the 
stomach  for  a  time,  however,  and  the 
proteid  material  has  undergone  partial 
digestion,  then  absorption  of  the  prod- 
ucts so  formed  calls  forth  energetic  se- 
cretion of  gastric  juice.  It  is  thus  seen 
that  there  are  three  ways — all  reflex — 
by  which  gastric  juice  is  caused  to  flow 
into  the  stomach  as  a  prelude  to  gastric 
digestion.  Further,  it  has  been  shown 
by  Pavlov  that  there  is  a  relationship 
between  the  volume  and  character  of  the 
gastric  juice  secreted  and  the  amount 
and  composition  of  the  food  ingested, 
thus  suggesting  a  certain  adjustment  in 
the  direction  of  physiological  economy 
well  worthy  of  note.  A  diet  of  bread, 
for  example,  leads  to  the  secretion  of  a 
smaller  volume  of  gastric  juice  than  a 
corresponding  weight  of  meat  produces, 
but  the  juice  secreted  under  the  influence 

[89] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  bread  is  richer  in  pepsin  and  acid, 
i.e.,  it  has  a  greater  digestive  action  than 
the  juice  produced  by  meat.  The  sug- 
gestion is  that  gastric  juice  assumes  dif- 
ferent degrees  of  concentration,  with 
different  proportions  of  acid  and  pepsin, 
to  meet  the  varying  requirements  of  a 
changing  dietary." 


[90] 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE   THREE    INCHES    OF   PERSONAL 
RESPONSIBILITY 

The  Effect  of  Prejudice — Professor  Fisher*s 
Experiment 

While  Professor  Cannon  was  grop- 
ing about  in  Nature's  alimentary  pre- 
serves in  comparative  darkness,  I  con- 
centrated my  attention  upon  the  first 
three  inches  of  the  canal  which  comprise 
the  field  of  our  personal  responsibility, 
and  which  has  been  neglected  by  most  of 
the  students  of  the  subject. 

While  the  area  considered  was  right 
out  in  front,  and  open  to  visual  inspec- 
tion all  the  time,  the  opportunity  to  study 
its  most  important  features  having  to  do 
with  nutrition  was  not  continuous.  Mr. 
Edison  may  rivet  his  attention  on  an 
electrical  problem  and  stick  to  it  for 
forty-eight  hours  on  a  stretch,  but  Taste 

[91] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

is  only  occasionally  on  exhibition  for  ob- 
servation and  cannot  be  pressed  into 
long  service  at  any  one  time.  For  test 
of  normal  Taste  only  the  time  required 
for  the  most  economic  nutrition  is  avail- 
able. A  real  body-need  with  keen  appe- 
tite is  the  first  healthy  excuse  for  calling 
on  Taste  to  perform.  Normal  appetite, 
too,  being  satisfied  with  appetising 
foods,  is  of  brief  duration.  One  may 
linger  over  a  meal  as  long  as  desired, 
enjoying  the  intimate  memory  of  the 
gustatory  gratification  in  leisurely  proc- 
ess, but  in  case  of  a  first-class  labouring 
man's  hunger  and  the  exigency  of  a  rail- 
way station  dinner  in  the  midst  of  a 
desert,  industrious  application  of  faith- 
ful Fletcherizing  for  fifteen  minutes  will 
usually  supply  the  real  needs  of  the  mo- 
ment for  eight  hours  at  least.  This  es- 
timate involves  a  healthy  condition  of 
the  nutrition  department,  including  an 
abundance  of  powerful  saliva  for  the 
hastening  of  the  mouth  treatment,  but 

[92] 


PERSONAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

such  a  beatific  facility  can  be  secured  in 
a  very  short  time  by  the  faithful  and 
intelligent  employment  of  all  depart- 
ments of  head  digestion. 

A  person  who  specialises  on  the  mouth 
end  of  the  alimentary  canal  has  plenty 
of  time  to  rest  between  inspections.  He 
will  naturally  watch  for  any  feeling  of 
results  that  may  happen  while  Mother 
Nature  is  doing  her  twenty-five  feet  of 
digestion  and  absorption,  but  if  his  part 
has  been  performed  properly,  there  will 
be  no  news  of  the  process  until  there  is 
something  to  excrete  from  the  material 
ingested.  When  this  occurs,  if  a  micro- 
scope is  handy  for  minute  inspection,  it 
will  be  found  that  most  of  the  excreta 
is  composed  of  what  I  think  of  as  the 
dandruff  of  the  alimentary  canal.  It  is 
composed  of  shapeless  particles  of  skin 
which  have  been  discarded  by  the  mu- 
cous surface  of  the  canal  in  the  same 
manner  that  dead  skin  is  being  continu- 
ally detached  from  the  head  and  all  parts 

[93] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  the  external  surface  of  the  body.  De- 
pending on  the  nature  of  the  food,  there 
may  be  small  particles  also  of  indigesti- 
ble cellulose  from  vegetable  foods  and 
the  condensed  solids  of  the  digestive 
juices  when  they  have  been  used  and 
worn  out. 

THE  EFFECT  OF  PREJUDICE 

I  have  noticed  that  the  early  preju- 
dices in  favour  of  or  against  foods  are 
likely  to  prevail  throughout  life.  I  have 
observed  this  in  trying  to  secure  local 
appreciation  for  my  own  favourite  New 
England  dishes  in  foreign  countries. 
Tinning,  or  canning,  science  has  made  it 
possible  to  serve  Boston  baked  beans 
and  brown  bread  or  even  an  entire 
Thanksgiving  Dinner  in  Japan  or  Bor- 
neo, but  it  is  impossible  to  excite  native 
appreciation  for  them  commensurate 
with  the  cost  and  trouble  of  the  trans- 
portation. In  Scandinavia,  where  they 
file  the  appetite  to  the  keenest  of  edges 
with  the  piquancy  of  the  "Smoer  Broed,'' 

[94] 


PERSONAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

or  "Smoer  Goes,"  *  the  American  taste 
for  very  sweet  things  is  not  appreciated. 
Chocolates  for  that  market  are  more  bit- 
ter than  sweet,  and  so  it  goes  throughout 
the  world  where  head  digestion  is  im- 
portant in  determining  the  prescription 
of  foods. 

At  one  time,  during  a  year  and  a  half 
of  travel  in  unusual  countries  where  the 
French,  English  or  American  memi  is 
not  easily  available,  I  never  missed  an 
opportunity  to  study  the  effect  of  head 
prejudice  on  digestion.  If  the  fortunate 
opportunity  occurs  to  sample  the  sump- 
tuous "ris  taver^  of  Java,  there  will  be 
the  best  of  chances  to  confirm  my  ob- 
servation in  this  regard.  This  dish  is 
varied  in  sumptuousness,  or  variety,  but 
the  humblest  offering  of  it  consists  of 
a  large  and  deep  soup  plate  piled  high 
in  the  middle  with  snowy  rice  with  each 
individual  grain  unbroken.  This,  to  be- 
gin with,  is  a  triumph  of  oriental  culi- 

*  Literally  "Butter-goose";  a  table  set  apart,  with 
bread  and  butter  and  a  variety  of  snacks. 

[95] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

nary  art.  Surrounding  this  rice  moun- 
tain are  dabs  of  every  sort  of  a  "relish'* 
any  one  ever  imagined.  You  select 
these  from  tiers  of  plates  borne  in  each 
hand  by  as  many  as  a  dozen  servants, 
following  each  other  in  procession,  and 
presenting  opportunities  of  choice 
amounting  to  twenty  or  more,  perhaps 
even  thirty  or  more  in  extraordinary 
cases.  Hence  it  is  the  privilege  of  the 
guest  to  take  much  or  little  of  any,  or 
all,  of  the  condiments  according  to  the 
state  of  his  appetite  or  greed.  All  the 
colours  and  nearly  the  whole  food  king- 
dom are  represented,  and  the  temptation 
IS  increased  by  the  art  of  rearrangement. 
There  is  no  way  of  judging  what  each 
sort  of  relish  is :  It  may  be  fish,  fowl, 
vegetable,  tuber,  side-meat,  or  a  com- 
bination of  nuts  or  fruits,  as  far  as  the 
intelligence  of  the  uninitiated  goes. 

There  were  several  members  of  the 
party  of  foreigners  of  different  degrees 
of  prejudice  against  anything  strange 

[96] 


PERSONAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

in  appearance.  To  one,  all  of  the  comes- 
tibles were  "utterly  impossible/'  and 
remained  so  to  the  end ;  while  to  others 
curiosity  got  the  better  of  suspicion,  and 
finally  the  appetites  looked  forward  to 
dinner-time  with  especial  cordiality,  for 
the  rice-mountain  relish-cordon  and  the 
complicated  combination  were  digested 
with  ease. 

The  standard  dish,  however,  of  the 
Javan  dinner  is  boiled  potatoes  and  beef- 
steak swimming  in  a  pint  of  good  butter 
gravy,  so  that  even  the  conscientious 
dietist  with  vegetarian  preferences  may 
revel  in  something  that  smacks  of  home 
and  mother,  with  such  an  abundance  of 
luscious  fruits  that  nothing  but  gusta- 
tory delight  happens  as  a  usual  thing. 
Still,  it  is  the  same  in  Java  or  Japan,  in 
London,  Paris,  Berlin,  Vienna,  Rome  or 
New  York,  the  digestion  of  food  is  un- 
der the  control  of  the  head  and  therefore 
may  be  called  head  digestion. 

[97] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

PROFESSOR  fisher's  EXPERIMENT 

The  most  important  large  experiment 
for  the  testing  of  head  digestion  under 
conditions  of  strict  scientific  control  was 
that  inaugurated  and  conducted  by  Pro- 
fessor Irving  Fisher,  of  Yale  Univer- 
sity, in  America. 

Professor  Fisher  occupies  the  Chair 
of  Political  Economy  at  Yale,  has  made 
extensive  researches  into  the  factors 
that  influence  the  economies  or  extrava- 
gances of  living,  and  is  President  of  the 
Committee  of  One  Hundred  of  the 
American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science  on  Health. 

Professor  Fisher's  interest  in  mv  rev- 
elations  and  tests  relative  to  the  potency 
of  head  digestion  came  primarily  from  a 
personal  test  which  worked  wonders  for 
him  in  establishing  a  foundation  for 
good  health.  He  was  not  satisfied  with 
the  later  Chittenden  experiments,  be- 
cause they  substituted  academic  pre- 
scription for  natural  selection  in  formu- 

[98] 


Horace  Fletcher  in  his  Master  of  Arts  Robes 


PERSONAL   RESPONSIBILITY 

lating  the  rules  of  the  inquiry.  Like 
myself,  in  conducting  the  original  re- 
searches, Professor  Fisher  realised  that 
the  practical  value  of  my  discoveries  was 
that  no  one  needed  a  biological  chemist 
to  order  his  meals  for  him  or  tell  his 
appetite  what  his  body  needed  in  the  way 
of  food  elements. 

The  Fisher  experiment  worked  with 
nine  healthy  undergraduates  who  were 
ambitious  to  take  high  scholastic  hon- 
ours, and  who  had  little  time  for  ath- 
letics or  any  form  of  physical  exercise, 
they  being  types  of  the  average  Univer- 
sity undergraduate. 

A  generous  table  was  supplied  them 
with  meat  and  every  variety  of  food  that 
usually  composed  college  fare.  The 
only  instructions  were  that  thorough 
mastication  and  especial  attention  to  the 
enjoyment  of  the  food  as  recommended 
by  me  in  my  books  should  be  faithfully 
performed.  This  course  was  pursued 
for  half  a  year,  and  for  the  rest  of  the 
year,  in  addition  to  the  careful  head 

[99] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

treatment  and  enjoyment,  preference 
was  to  be  given  to  foods  known  to  be 
low  in  nitrogen  content;  but  not  to  the 
extent  of  suppressing  any  distinct  call 
of  appetite  for  them. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  experiment 
the  men  held  their  own  on  about  40  per 
cent,  less  food,  computed  by  cost,  and 
increased  their  strength-endurance  abil- 
ity by  something  more  than  100  per 
cent.,  with  the  added  felicity  of  feeling 
unusually  fit  all  of  the  time,  entirely  es- 
caping the  slack  or  sick  spells  they  had 
been  accustomed  to,  and  improving 
greatly  in  their  general  studentability, 
that  is :  power  of  concentration,  memory, 
mental  comfort,  profundity  of  sleep,  etc. 

During  the  second  half  of  the  experi- 
ment still  more  improvement  was  se- 
cured owing  to  the  readiness  of  the  body 
to  accommodate  itself  to  the  wish  by 
favouring  the  economies. 

I  have  not  a  copy  of  the  report  at 
hand.     It  is  included  in  the  publications 
of  Yale  University  about  1905. 
[100] 


The   Author,   on   his   Sixtieth   Birthday,   performing   Feats  of 

Agility 


ANP   Strength  which   would   be   remarkable   even  in  a  Young 

Athlete. 


PERSONAL   RESPONSlI^HiilT^  .'  ^     ''' 

While  all  of  the  abundance  of  con- 
firmatory evidence  which  has  accumu- 
lated since  1898  is  valuable  and  gratify- 
ing, the  verdict  of  the  unremitting  ob- 
servation since  then  is  that  the  problem 
of  nutrition  is  always  a  personal  one. 
After  fifteen  years  of  devotion  to  the 
study  of  the  head-end  question,  with  due 
attention  to  the  tell-tale  excreta  and  the 
product  expressed  in  terms  of  energy 
and  general  comfort,  I  am  unable  to  pre- 
dict what  my  body  is  going  to  want  to- 
morrow in  the  way  of  nutrition  supply. 
I  can  say  with  some  confidence  that  if 
I  go  on  doing  as  I  have  been  accustomed 
to  doing  daily,  and  no  shock  of  grief  or 
surprise  intervenes  to  upset  all  calcula- 
tions, I  am  likely  to  find  nutritive  satis- 
faction as  expressed  by  appetite  among 
the  foods  that  are  commonly  agreeable 
to  me. 

If  I  am  compelled  or  impelled  to  do  a 
great  stunt  of  walking  or  other  unusual 
exertion,  or  receive  crushing  news,  all 
my  present  predictions  may  be  useless. 

[lOl] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

The  body  itself,  from  the  hair  on  the 
head  to  each  finger  or  toe-nail  will  know 
what  it  wants  and  will  have  given  to  the 
caterer  Appetite  its  requisition  covering 
the  need.  In  the  meantime  each  brain 
cell  and  all  of  the  bones  have  not  been 
neglectful  of  their  sustenance  require- 
ments, nor  have  they  been  backward  in 
letting  Appetite  know. 

It  is  fortunate  that  the  common  needs 
of  digestion  may  be  supplied  from  a  lim- 
ited range  of  food  varieties.  Milk  is 
all-sufficient  always  for  general  supply 
of  the  nutritive  requisites.  In  the  ple- 
beian potato,  which  has  attained  to  royal 
rank  as  the  result  of  the  extensive  ex- 
periments of  Dr.  Hindhede,  of  Den- 
mark, in  co-operation  with  Madsen  the 
Faithful,  has  been  found  full  nourish- 
ment for  ten  months,  at  least,  when  sup- 
plemented by  butter  or  margarine  to 
furnish  the  fuel  supply.  Even  in  this 
surprising  revelation  no  academic  pre- 
scription was  infallible.  Potatoes  differ 
in  nutritive  value  as  much  as  50  per 
[102] 


PERSONAL    RESPONSIBILITY 

cent.  Fresh-cooked  and  well-cooked 
ones  alone  fill  the  bill  of  sufficiency,  and 
full  head-work  in  assuring  easy  diges- 
tion was  made  the  first  rule  of  the  test. 
For  four  months  I  served  as  a  check 
test-subject  and  speak  from  experience. 
Nothing  is  ever  accomplished  except 
by  a  division  of  labour  and  on  the  just 
division  of  responsibility  depends  the 
success  of  eflFort.  Nature  has  given  to 
us  the  head-end  of  responsibility. 


[103] 


CHAPTER  IX 

QUESTION    PRESCRIPTION    AND 
PROSCRIPTION 

The  Protein  Enthusiast — ^Doubting  Thomases 

The  only  completely  accurate  pre- 
scriber  of  nutrition  for  living  creatures 
is  Mother  Nature  herself,  and  if  she  does 
not  prescribe  anything  by  the  undoubted 
approval  of  appetite  she  /)r6>scribes  it. 

One  of  the  rules  which  have  governed 
my  quest  for  optimum  human  nutrition 
in  the  midst  of  the  twentieth  century 
food  supply  and  other  conditions,  has 
always  been  to  go  to  Nature  for  final 
advice  in  the  matter. 

When  I  say  ''Question  Prescription 
and  Proscription''  I  mean  that  the  most 
positive  prescribers  of  food  have  some- 
thing in  the  food  line  or  advice  to  sell, 
and  they  proscribe  as  positively  anything 
[104] 


PRESCRIPTION  AND  PROSCRIPTION 

that  competes  with  their  commercial 
product. 

My  eyes  were  opened  to  this  possible 
snare  and  delusion  by  a  great  doctor  of 
medicine,*  who  is  also  one  of  the  most 
ardent  economists  I  have  ever  met — not 
a  miser  in  any  sense,  but  a  religiously 
philosophical  economist.  He  is  almost 
as  righteously  indignant  against  any 
who  use  the  trust  which  is  placed  in  them 
by  clients  or  patients  for  the  selling  of 
high-priced  foods  as  he  is  at  the  makers, 
advertisers,  retailers  and  prescribers  of 
alcohol  as  a  beverage.  In  his  just  opin- 
ion it  is  as  wicked,  or  almost  as  wicked, 
to  advise  unprofitable  extravagance  of 
any  sort  as  it  is  to  prescribe  poison. 

To  this  discriminating  philosopher 
food  is  the  basis  of  health-wealth,  and 
sacred  to  its  divine  usefulness. 

The  great  harm  fhat  was  done  to  the 
world  by  the  academic  prescription  of 
excessive  protein  rations  t  was  that  it 

*Dr.  M.  Hindhede:  Copenhagen,  Denmark. 
fVoit,  Atwater,  etc 

[105] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

started  a  vicious  circle  of  extravagances 
which  led  as  surely  to  untimely  death  as 
murder.  The  perpetrators  of  this  per- 
nicious prescription  were  innocent  of  in- 
tention to  do  harm;  in  fact,  they  were 
full  of  the  most  generous  of  motives  in 
issuing  their  poisonous  advice,  and  one 
of  the  most  prominent,  at  least,  paid  the 
penalty  by  dying  miserably  of  his  own 
fatal  ignorance. 

I  may  also  say  that  it  is  "presump- 
tion/' advisably,  for  almost  all  prescrip- 
tions of  food  which  do  not  have  their 
basis  on  the  natural  body  calls  are  pre- 
sumptuous. Nature  knows!  If  given 
a  chance  to  show  her  knowledge  Nature 
prescribes  rightly  and  delivers  her  mes- 
sage in  the  form  of  appetite  and  the 
other  instincts.  She  will  do  this  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  complicated  of  arti- 
ficial food  mixtures,  as  I  have  reason  to 
know  from  personal  experience,  con- 
firmed by  many  others  over  and  over 
again. 

Therefore  I  may  say  more  surely 
[io6] 


PRESCRIPTION  AND  PROSCRIPTION 

than  ever,  that  whatever  nature  pro- 
vides and  PERMITS  as  nourishment  i 

HAVE  NO  right  TO  PJiOSCRlBE. 

THE   ONLY  P/?iBSCRIPTION 

that  Honesty  approves  is  the  Optimum 
Economic  Nutrition ;  and  my  great  pre- 
ceptor, Dr.  Hindhede,  the  ideally  hon- 
est scientist  and  doctor,  ventures  to 
prescribe  only  the  plainest  of  foods  that 
are  delicious  to  a  true,  keen  appetite, 
and  cost  the  least  through  being  in  sea- 
son and  so  common  and  easy  to  grow 
as  to  be  cheapest. 

This  good  and  superlatively  honest 
doctor  does  not  Proscribe;  anything  that 
Nature  permits  as  food  and  he  does  not 
even  Proscribe  the  transportation  of 
grapes  from  Madeira  to  the  North 
Cape  of  Norway  for  the  enjoyment  of 
those  who  can  afford  to  pay  for  them. 

Would  the  Froscribers  of  flesh  food 
have  denied  Amundsen  and  his  com- 
panions the  flesh  of  their  faithful  dogs 
as  a  last  resort  in  securing  nourish- 
[107] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

ment  for  the  completion  of  their 
journey  to  the  South  Pole?  It  was 
their  truly  last  resort  in  gaining  the 
victory  over  the  Ice  God;  and  would  to 
God  that  brave  Captain  Scott  and  his 
band  of  faithful  ones  had  had  such  a 
last  but  saving  resort  to  help  them  ac- 
complish the  eleven  miles  between  them 
and  rescue!  But  then,  the  world 
would  have  missed  a  model  of  altruism 
that  is  worth  a  million  lives,  and  one  of 
which  million  everybody  would  like  to 
be,  if  their  lives  are  worth  the  living. 

THE   PROTEIN   ENTHUSIAST 

While  writing  this  chapter  I  have 
been  forwarded  material  for  indig- 
nation and  a  text  for  condemnation  in 
the  form  of  a  book  so  full  of  food  pre- 
scription that  it  is  positively  poisonous, 
as  read  with  the  intelligence  of  my  own 
and  current  knowledge  of  the  subject, 
that  it  ought  to  be  pilloried  as  a  "Hor- 
rible Example"  of  presumptuous  pre- 
scription and  proscription.  It  is  an 
[io8] 


PRESCRIPTION   AND    PROSCRIPTION 

advertisement  pure  and  simple,  but  so 
prejudicial  to  the  natural  facts  in  the 
case  that  it  again  raises  the  question  of 
the  advisability  of  a  Supreme  Court  of 
the  Physiology  of  Nutrition,  to  try 
such  nutrition  perverters  for  high  trea- 
son to  Mother  Nature. 

I  will  not  name  the  book  or  the 
author,  to  further  the  advertisement. 
I  once  stopped  a  controversy  with  the 
doctor-father  of  the  author  by  offering 
to  wager  him  one  hundred  pounds  that 
I  could  beat  him  out  on  a  ten  mile  go- 
as-you-please  tramp,  which  he  had 
mentioned  as  one  of  his  stunts  to  prove 
his  contentions.  Our  ages  were  nearly 
equal,  and  the  difference  of  training 
consisted  of  his  prescribing  for  himself 
over  IOC  grams  of  proteid  daily  (less 
by  20  per  cent,  than  the  vicious  Voit  * 

*  Carl  Voit,  of  Munich,  prescribed  as  Standard 
daily  diet  for  a  man  doing  moderate  work:  118 
grams  of  Protein,  56  grs.  Fat,  500  grs.  Carbohydrates, 
with  a  total  fuel  value  of  3,055  large  calories ;  increas- 
ing the  same  to  145  grains  Protein,  160  grs.  Fat,  450 
grs.  Carbohydrates,  with  a  total  fuel  value  of  3,370 

[109] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

or  Koenig  Standards,  and  less  by  30 
per  cent,  than  the  Standard  that  killed 
poor  Professor  Atwater),  while  I  had 
subsisted  for  years  on  less  than  half  his 
prescription.  He  warned  me  that  I 
was  courting  death,  but  that  he  was 
providing  for  himself  longevity  by  the 
mile.  He  got  mad  with  me,  and  nearly 
fumed  at  the  mouth,  because  I  assumed 
to  insist  that  only  Mother  Nature  was 
a  competent  prescriber,  intimating  that 
he  was  not.  I  could  not  out-talk  him, 
and  so  I  sent  him  a  challenge.  He 
made  the  excuse  that  he  was  leaving 
for  the  Continent  for  a  rest,  but  would 
talk  further  with  me  when  he  returned. 
His  reputed  forty-thousand-pound 
office  practice  of  prescribing  his  favour- 
large  calories.  This  is  the  celebrated  Voit  Diet 
Standard.  Professor  Atwater,  of  Connecticut,  went 
further,  prescribing  as  Daily  Diet  Standard  no  less 
than  125  grams  of  Proteins,  with  sufficient  fat  and 
carbohydrates  to  equal  a  total  fuel  value  of  3,500 
large  calories  for  a  man  doing  a  moderate  amount  of 
labour;  increasing  the  amount  of  Protein  to  150 
grams,  with  fats  and  carbohydrates  to  a  total  fuel 
value  of  4,500  large  calories  per  diem. 

[no] 


PRESCRIPTION  AND  PROSCRIPTION 

ite  dietaries  had  worn  him  out  and  he 
was  going  for  a  rest.  Later  I  heard 
of  him  in  a  sanatorium — surely  dis- 
graceful to  a  doctor  to  be  compelled  to 
go  to  such  a  place  for  ''treatment." 

The  race,  or  contest,  never  took 
place,  but  since  then  I  personally  have 
several  times  broken  records  estab- 
lished by  men  one-half,  and  even  one- 
third,  of  my  age  with  progressive  ease 
up  to  three  years  ago  when  last  put  to 
a  test,  and  I  have  noted  no  letting-up 
of  the  progress  of  recuperation  as 
judged  by  "feelings''  or  endurance 
when  doing  unusual  stunts. 

In  this  direction  I  now  feel  that  1 
have  done  enough,  and  that  it  is  not  for 
age  to  tempt  Providence  by  competing 
with  the  Prime  of  Muscularity  in  feats 
of  strength  and  endurance.  John  L. 
Sullivan  and  Jefferies  and  many  more 
went  once  too  often  into  the  ring,  and 
Mother  Nature,  not  Corbett  or  Jack 
Johnson,  knocked  them  out  for  good 
and  all.     Fletcherizing  does  not  include 

[III]  . 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

either  imprudence  or  bluff.  It  merely 
trusts  good  Mother  Nature  for  direc- 
tions to  accompany  her  nutriment-medi- 
cine. Whenever  at  any  time  I  feel  the 
impulse  to  turn  somersaults  from  the 
lead  platform  of  a  man-of-war  into 
good,  clean  salt-water — as  I  did  a  few 
years  ago  or  so  in  the  Philippines,  as  a 
demonstration  to  impress  the  natives — 
I  will  "up  and  do  it,  or  die  in  the  at- 
tempt" What  I  am  doing  now  more 
than  ever  is  keeping  my  ear  to  the 
mouth  of  Mother  Nature,  my  finger  on 
her  pulse  of  command,  and  doing  her 
biddings  as  well  as  I  can  interpret  them. 
If  a  thing  is  not  agreeable  to  do,  I  take 
it  as  a  warning  not  to  do  it.  There  are 
so  many  useful  things  to  do  that  are 
pleasant,  what  is  the  use  of  going  out 
of  the  way  to  do  disagreeable  things. 
There  are  some  things  that  are  natural 
and  agreeable  that  we  should  do,  and 
which  we  have  got  out  of  the  habit  of 
doing,  physical  exercise,  for  instance. 
We  are  dealing  with  cultivated  abnor- 

[112] 


PRESCRIPTION   AND   PROSCRIPTION 

malities  always  in  a  cramped  and  com- 
plex civilisation.  "We  are  constantly 
doing  the  things  that  we  should  not  do, 
and  leaving  undone  those  things  that 
we  ought  to  do/'  as  the  Prayer  Book 
tells  us,  including  carelessness  of  eat- 
ing, and  shirking  physical  exercise. 

To  return  to  the  callow  book  of  the 
canny  doctor-son  of  my  antagonist  of 
a  dozen  years  ago.  It  isn't  so  callow 
as  it  is  canny,  and  since  the  persons  in 
the  case  are  of  the  canniest  of  peoples, 
those  who  are  so  shrewd  that  Jewish 
merchants  do  not  thrive  among  them, 
and  the  prescription  results  in  thou- 
sands of  pounds  a  year  revenue,  the 
game  may  be  set  down  to  ordinary  com- 
mercial cupidity  and  popular  gullibility. 
It  is  safe  to  always  warn  against  Pre- 
scription for  Revenue.  Like  patriot- 
ism or  religion  for  revenue,  it  is 
questionable,  if  not  surely  selfishly 
prejudiced. 

On  the  other  hand.  Mother  Nature 
charges   no   fee   for  her   advice.     She 

[113] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

pays  good  coin  as  a  premium  for  her 
patients  in  the  same  way  that  I  bribed 
my  first  test  subjects  into  eating  right 
by  paying  them  for  eating  in  addition 
to  furnishing  the  food. 

DOUBTING   THOMASES 

who  are  too  lazy,  or  incredulous,  or 
careless,  to  take  a  month  to  try  the 
Mother  Nature  Prescription  as  inter- 
preted by  me,  are  liable  to  say:  ''Ap- 
petite is  abnormal.  Taste  is  perverted, 
and  the  demands  of  the  body  are  wholly 
unnatural.'' 

True!  But  abnormality  of  that  sort 
can  be  corrected  in  a  very  short  time. 
A  "poor  chap"  who  is  lucky  enough  to 
have  to  go  without  food  long  enough 
to  "whinney  like  a  horse"  at  the  smell 
of  fresh-baked  bread  and  the  thought 
of  good  Danish  butter  on  it,  is  not  go- 
ing to  "turn  up  his  nose"  at  even  a  crisp 
baked  potato;  neither  is  he  likely  to  re- 
quire sweetbreads  to  coax  himself  to 
eat.     Correcting  perverted  appetite  is 

[114] 


PRESCRIPTION  AND  PROSCRIPTION 

like  purifying  a  stream  which  is  being 
polluted  at  its  source  and  runs  muddy 
all  the  way  to  the  sea.  Stop  the  pollu- 
tion, and  the  stream  will  purify  itself 
as  fast  as  ever  it  can  by  hurrying  along 
with  its  impurities  to  the  great  ocean 
sewerage. 


C115] 


CHAPTER  X 

WHAT      CONSTITUTES      A      FLETCHERITE 

Fletcherism  and  Longevity — W.  E.  Gladstone,  Fletch- 
erite — Fletcherizing  Liquids — Getting  the  Best 
out  of  Everything — The  Study  of  Mother- 
Nature 

Since  the  term  'Tletcherite"  is  in- 
corporated in  some  of  the  latest  dic- 
tionaries, it  is  proper  that  the  person 
whose  name  has  been  used  for  the 
designation  should  define  what  consti- 
tutes a  Fletcherite. 

Any  person  who  eats  in  a  healthy 
manner  is  a  Fletcherite. 

Any  person  who  eats  in  a  polite  man- 
ner is  a  Fletcherite. 

Any  person  who  is  faithful  to  his  end 
of    responsibility    in    securing    healthy 
nutrition  for  himself  is  a  respectable 
eater  and  a  good  Fletcherite. 
[ii6] 


WHAT   CONSTITUTES   A   FLETCHERITE 
WHAT    IS    NOT   A    FLETCHERITE 

The  above  definitions  are  fully  com- 
prehensive, but  sometimes  it  is  more 
effective  to  describe  a  thing  by  telling 
what  it  is  not,  and  leaving  the  remain- 
der as  an  inferential  description. 

Following  this  suggestion,  it  is  safe 
to  say,  that : 

Any  one  who  eats  when  he  is  not 
hungry  or  what  his  appetite  does  not 
approve,  is  not  a  Fletcherite. 

All  this  presupposes  the  ordinary  op- 
portunity for  selection  in  civilized  com- 
munities where  this  book  is  liable  to  be 
read  and  where  its  revelations  and 
recommendations  are  most  needed. 

Any  one  who  does  not  give  his  ap- 
petite a  chance  to  guide  him  to  healthy 
nutrition  is  not  a  Fletcherite. 

Any  one  who  does  not  extract  all  of 
the  taste  from  his  food,  while  it  is  in 
the  region  where  taste  is  developed,  is 
not  a  Fletcherite. 

Any  one  who  succumbs  to  greed  of 

[117] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

"getting  the  worth  of  his  money,"  be- 
cause he  has  paid  for  food,  or  can  get 
food  free  of  cost,  or  takes  it  on  the  in- 
sistence of  Aggressive  HospitaHty,  or 
to  kill  time,  or  for  any  purpose  other 
than  for  the  satisfaction  of  a  real  ap- 
petite, is  not  a  Fletcherite. 

FLETCHERISM   AND    LONGEVITY 

Returning  to  positive  definition  of  a 
Fletcherite:  it  is  a  good  safe  betting 
proposition  that  all  persons  who  have 
passed  the  seventy  year-mark  in  the  life 
race  are  Fletcherites  in  the  fundamen- 
tal requirement  of  healthy  eating.  If 
they  reach  beyond  the  eighty  year- 
mark  it  is  certain  that  they  have  been 
fairly  decent  eaters  for  many  years,  even 
if  they  abused  themselves  earlier  in  life. 
For  example :  vide  the  autobiography  of 
Luigi  Cornaro,  which  was  concluded 
only  when  he  was  nearly  one  hundred 
years  old.  Vide  also,  occasional  news- 
paper statements  attributed  to  cente- 
narians or  near  centenarians  who  claim 
[ii8] 


WHAT   CONSTITUTES   A   FLETCHERITE 

to  have  been  Fletcherites  before 
Fletcher  was  born.  Some  of  them 
have  had  the  "constitution ''  necessary 
to  attain  the  respectable  longevity  and 
have  used  tobacco  and  alchohol  at  the 
same  time,  but  there  is  no  evidence  that 
either  tobacco  or  alcohol  lengthened 
their  lives.  In  the  same  category  of 
questionably-profitable  indulgences  may 
be  put  any  of  the  stimulants  or  nar- 
cotics which  do  not  actually  nourish  the 
body. 

W.    E.    GLADSTONE FLETCHERITE 

The  Epicureans,  who  were  true  to 
the  principles  of  Epicurus,  were 
Fletcherites,  before  the  name  of 
Fletcher  had  evolved  the  occupation  of 
arrow  making  and  archery.  Mr. 
Gladstone  was  a  philosophical  Fletcher- 
ite  before  Fletcher  discovered  that  he 
had  a  mouth  that  was  worth  while 
studying  and  using,  but  the  name  did 
not  get  into  the  dictionary  as  describing 
his  most  statesman-like  inspiration. 

[119] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

A  Fletcherite  does  not  confine  his 
Fletcherizing  to  food.  He  is  en- 
couraged, by  the  beneficial  results  of 
careful  eating,  to  try  the  same  method 
of  co-operating  with  Opportunity  on 
anything  that  has  good  and  bad  pos- 
sibilities in  it. 

FLETCHERIZING    LIQUIDS 

For  example :  careful  tasting  of  food 
reveals  felicities  of  taste  which  lead  to 
seeking  similar  rewards  wherever  taste 
is  to  be  found.  Take  liquids:  The 
only  liquid  that  does  not  invite  Fletch- 
erizing with  some  deliberation,  but 
seems  eager  to  get  into  the  blood  to 
quench  thirst  is  Water.  If  it  is  not 
pure  water,  soft,  cool  as  if  from  a 
spring,  and  delicious  in  its  purity,  it 
has  an  inclination  to  stop  a  little  in  the 
mouth  and  give  taste  a  chance  to  in- 
vestigate or  to  get  something  worth 
while  out  of  it.  Do  not  think  that  in- 
animate things  have  no  sense  of  pro- 
priety! Everything  natural  is  as  full 
[120] 


WHAT    CONSTITUTES   A    FLETCHERITE 

of  propriety  as  an  ''tgg  is  full  of  meat/' 
Nature  is  Propriety! 

Mineral  waters,  lemonade,  beer, 
wine,  and  even  milk  have  delicate 
senses  of  propriety.  They  do  not  rush 
to  be  sucked  up  for  the  mere  relief  of 
thirst,  like  pure  water,  but  they  linger 
a  bit  in  the  domain  of  taste  and  infer- 
entially  say:  "I  am  tasty;  don't  you 
want  to  taste  me:  When  I  am  swal- 
lowed my  gustatory  charm  is  dead  and 
gone  forever;  please  let  me  leave  my 
taste  with  you,  good  Mr.  Taste.'' 

Do  not  think  this  is  a  fanciful  personi- 
fication of  the  liquids  which  have  taste. 
Don't  take  my  word  for  it.  I  am  only 
telling  you  what  Taste  has  told  me,  and 
also  told  me  to  tell  it  to  you.  The  next 
time  you  are  thirsty  and  have  a  chance 
to  get  good  pure  water,  note  if  it  doesn't 
rush  to  swallow  itself  in  about  one- 
ounce  swallows  until  the  thirst  is  satis- 
fied. If  it  is  too  cold  it  will  want  to 
wait  a  minute  to  get  to  the  temperature 
of  the  body  in  the  hot  room  of  the 

[121] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

mouth,  before  rushing  in  to  chill  the 
stomach,  and  if  it  is  too  warm  it  will 
not  give  the  full  satisfaction  that 
spring-cool  water  gives,  showing  that 
Taste  has  a  wider  usefulness  than  mere 
glorifying  of  sapid  substances.  Or:  is 
it  Feeling  that  assists  Taste  in  express- 
ing approval  or  disapproval  of  liquid  as 
well  as  solid  nutriment? 

GETTING     THE     BEST     OUT     OF     EVERY- 
THING 

From  Fletcherizing  things  which 
pass  through  the  laboratory  of  the 
mouth,  it  is  most  natural  to  call  on 
Mother  Nature  in  her  stately  propriety 
to  assist  in  getting  the  best  and  most 
out  of  everything  from  a  kernel  of  corn 
to  the  World  at  Large. 

In  the  personal  equipment,  muscular 
exercise,  mental  discipline,  and  habits 
of  effectiveness  come  in  at  once  for 
analysis  and  separation. 

Outside  the  personality,  companion- 
ship is  of  most  vital  concern,  and  the 
[122] 


WHAT    CONSTITUTES   A    FLETCHERITE 

wonder  will  be  how  soon  the  Natural 
Appetite  for  profitable  companionship 
will  choose  some  dogs  in  preference  to 
some  human  beings,  for  the  qualities  of 
sympathy,  approval  and  faithfulness 
that  every  social  being  craves. 

Of  course,  there  are  some  companion- 
able combinations  among  men  that  are 
more  satisfactory  and  profitable  than 
any  dumb  animal  can  possibly  supply, 
but  it  is  for  the  purpose  of  finding  such 
combinations  that  the  Fletcherizing  of 
friends  is  useful.  There  is  much  good 
in  every  one,  as  there  is  in  everything 
that  Nature  offers  as  nourishment  for 
the  body,  but  everything  has  its  Appro- 
priate place  and  time,  its  harmonious 
supplements  and  compliments,  and  this 
is  true  regarding  companionships. 
"What  IS  one  man's  ,food,  is  another 
man's  poison,"  is  a  truism  applicable 
alike  to  companionship  and  friendship. 
It  is  equally  true  regarding  honesty  and 
dishonesty;  truth  and  deceit. 
[123] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

the  study  of  mother  nature 

The  foregoing  constitutes  a  pretty 
stiff  proposition  for  the  measurement  of 
ideal  Fletcherism,  but  when  you  come 
to  consider  that  the  aim  is  nothing  less 
than  getting  as  close  to  Mother  Nature 
as  possible  and  listening  to  her  orders 
relative  to  good  team-work  between  us, 
the  contract  does  not  seem  so  impos- 
sible. It  was  close  study  of  Mother 
Nature  and  her  laws  of  gravity  and  re- 
sistance that  led  Lillienthal,  the  Ger- 
man, to  try  to  glide  on  the  "wings  of 
the  wind''  with  imitations  of  the  wings 
of  birds,  and  it  was  following  Cha- 
nute's  lead  that  led  the  Wright  Broth- 
ers to  develop  the  flying-machine.  It 
was  because  of  tutelage  in  the  honest 
school  of  Mother  Nature  that  the 
Wright  Brothers  prefaced  their  first  ac- 
count of  their  "invention''  by  giving 
the  French  aviator  credit  for  the  initial 
suggestion. 

In  similiar  manner,  it  was  the  close, 
[124] 


WHAT   CONSTITUTES   A   FLETCHERITE 

objective  study  of  the  psychology  of  di- 
gestion under  the  honest  direction  of 
Mother  Nature  in  a  somewhat  drastic 
form  that  led  Pawlow,  the  Russian 
physiologist,  to  preface  his  account  of 
his  great  achievement  by  calling  up  the 
memory  of  the  French  physiologist 
Blondlot,  and  telling  that  he  had  de- 
scribed the  true  process  of  digestion 
from  logical  deduction  fifty  years  be- 
fore. 

In  like  manner,  Professor  Cannon, 
of  Harvard  University  Medical  School, 
insisted  that  dear  Dr.  Bowditch,  his 
preceptor  in  Physiology,  had  laid  out 
for  him  the  line  of  X-ray  studies  of  the 
''Mechanism  of  Digestion,"  which  has 
given  him  distinguished  research  fame. 
Getting  close  to  Mother  Nature  opens 
up  infinite  possibilities  of  enlighten- 
ment, and  among  them  cultivation  of 
the  honesty  and  unselfishness  which  she 
herself  typifies. 


[125] 


CHAPTER  XI 

ALL  DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

Dietetic  Righeousness — ^The  Disgrace  of  Sickness — 
The  Optimism  of  the  Fletcherite 

In  order  that  there  shall  be  no  mis- 
understanding let  us  agree  upon  the 
dictionary  definition  of  "Decent."  It 
IS  "Having  propriety  of  conduct." 

Let  us  also  take  the  dictionary  defini- 
tion of  Fletcherite,  as  an  agreed  mean- 
ing. It  is:  "One  who  practises 
Fletcherism." 

Fletcherism,  in  turn,  is  defined  as 
"A  method  of  thorough  mastication 
recommended  by  Horace  Fletcher." 

No  self-respecting  person  wishes  to 
be  indecent  about  anything,  and  espe- 
cially about  things  that  are  sacred. 

I  use  the  term  "Indecent"  because  it 
has  an  ugly  look  and  sound.     It  is  more 

[126] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

than  thoughtless  or  careless.  It  is 
positively  indecent  and  nothing  less. 
So  is  ugly  and  irreverential  eating 
more  culpable  than  mere  heedlessness 
when  we  come  to  consider  what  it 
means  in  the  way  of  consequences.  It 
spells  Indecency  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  of  the  process  involved  in  the 
act. 

You  may  have  a  very  poor  opinion  of 
the  namesake  in  the  case,  but  you  must 
be  glad  that  he  discovered  for  himself 
that  decent  eating  means  recuperation 
of  health  if  it  has  been  shaken:  preser- 
vation of  health  if  it  is  a  fortunate  pos- 
session: and  epicurean  enjoyment  that 
cannot  be  realized  in  full  without  it. 

I  repeat  that  the  term  Fletcherite  is 
not  a  personal  monopoly  but  a  popular 
and  dictionary  creation.  I  am  selfish 
enough  to  be  glad  that  Gladstone 
escaped  the  distinction  of  having  his 
great  name  used  as  a  designation  of 
decent  eating. 

[127] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

dietetic  righteousness 

When  I  was  called  upon  to  deliver  an 
address  before  the  New  York  Academy 
of  Medicine  on  ''Possibilities  of  Recup- 
eration after  Fifty,"  I  used  a  phrase  of 
my  own  coining,  "Dietetic  Righteous- 
ness,'" and  was  later  called  to  account 
for  having  been  irreverent  in  using 
sacred  terms  in  connection  with  food 
and  eating.  "By  George!"  I  replied, 
in  righteous  indignation,  "Is  there  any- 
thing more  sacred  than  serving  faith- 
fully at  the  altar  of  our  Holy  Effi- 
ciency?" "Is  there  any  righteousness 
more  respectable  than  that  which  fur- 
nishes fuel  for  healthy  efficiency  and 
moral  stability?"  And  the  question 
may  now  be  repeated,  "Is  there?" 

As  for  indecency:  Is  there  any  con- 
duct having  less  propriety  than  regard- 
ing our  wonderful  mouth,  with  its  pro- 
digious potency  for  protection  and 
pleasure,  as  a  mere  food  and  drink  hop- 
per for  good  material,  which  becomes 

[128] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

really  swill  in  the  alimentary  canal  if  it 
is  not  properly  treated  in  the  mouth? 
Can  any  one  think  of  anything  more  in- 
decent than  offensive  odours  which  are 
the  inevitable  tell-tale  of  indecent  eat- 
ing, and  which  are  eliminated  from 
possibility  of  development  if  eating  has 
been  decently  performed?  The  pen- 
ance, or  even  pleasure,  of  frequent  bath- 
ing, in  order  that  the  tell-tales  of  in- 
decency may  not  become  public,  does 
not  atone  for  the  sinning  in  the  begin- 
ning. The  real  damage  has  been  done 
in  the,  and  to  the,  delicate  alimentary 
canal,  with  consequences  to  be  realized 
later  on  in  terms  of  odious  disease  or 
premature  death.  These  are  the  in- 
side facts  in  the  case  made  bare  by 
frank  presentation. 

THE   DISGRACE   OF   SICKNESS 

I  believe  it  was  the  great  American 

philosopher,  Emerson,  who  said  that  it 

is  "A  greater  disgrace  to  be  sick  than 

to  be  in  the  penitentiary.     When  you 

[129] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

are  arrested  it  is  because  you  have 
broken  a  man-made  statute,  but  when 
you  are  ill,  it  is  because  you  have  dis- 
obeyed one  of  God's  laws."  As  else- 
where remarked,  it  is  almost  impossible 
in  civilized  surroundings  not  to  disobey 
some  of  the  natural  laws:  body-venti- 
lation, first  of  all;  but  no  sinning  is  so 
dreadfully  punished  as  indecent  eating 
persistently  practised. 

Some  of  the  ancients  believed  that 
the  mysterious  Something  that  they 
called  the  Soul  was  located  in  the  stom- 
ach and  not  in  the  heart  or  brain. 
There  was  reason  for  thus  placing  the 
location,  because  the  bad  effect  of  un- 
happy thought  or  anything  that 
"touches  the  heart"  is  first  felt  in  the 
stomach  if  it  has  any  troubles  of  its 
own  at  the  moment  to  worry  about,  due 
to  indecent  haste  or  carelessness  in  eat- 
ing. To  the  habitual  Fletcherite  such 
double  disaster  does  not  come.  Easy 
digestion  has  been  assured  by  begin- 
ning it  in  the  manner  required  by 
[130] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

Mother  Nature,  and  to  arrest  it  by  un- 
favourable psychic  influence  for  a  Httle 
time  does  not  result  in  the  production 
of  those  poisons  which  wear  out  the 
body  faster  than  any  other  cause.  The 
worst  of  news  may  be  sprung  on  one  as 
a  terrible  surprise,  and  cloud  the  hap- 
piness for  a  time  without  causing  dam- 
age to  the  delicate  vital  organs.  Thus 
the  misfortune,  or  its  opposite  in  dis- 
guise, as  the  case  may  be,  does  not  set 
up  a  vicious  circle  of  accumulating  fad 
effects.  The  thorough  Fletcherite  is  a 
philosopher,  with  a  solid  foundation 
for  his  or  her  faith  in  the  Good  that 
may  be  lodged  in  even  seeming  misfor- 
tune, and  the  recovery  from  the  shock 
of  disappointment,  in  order  to  discover 
the  Good  at  next  hand,  is  as  speedy  as 
desired.  The  faithful  one  is  ever  ready 
to  go  before  the  bar  of  Death's  Tri- 
bunal for  the  approving  judgment  his 
dietetic  righteousness  is  sure  to  secure. 
Good  circles  of  healthy  cause  and  effect 
have  been  swirling  about  in  the  organ- 

[131] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

ism  as  the  result  of  faithful  decent  eat- 
ing, and  Nature  or  Nature's  God  never 
fail  to  perpetuate  the  evolution  of  the 
Good. 

THE    OPTIMISM    OF    THE    FLETCHERITE 

Fairness  or  politeness  to  the  part  of 
the  wonderful  alimentary  canal  which 
Mother  Nature  has  assigned  to  herself 
to  manage  is  .nothing  more  than  com- 
mon decency;  and  no  privacy  of  priv- 
ilege can  ever  excuse  any  indecent  eat- 
ing. Just  think  of  all  the  latitude 
Mother  Nature  has  given  her  favourite 
child  man  in  the  way  of  easy  conven- 
ience in  doing  the  right  thing  in  eating. 
He  is  not  compelled  to  eat  every  few 
minutes  to  keep  himself  alive,  as  he  is 
compelled  to  do  in  breathing:  or  every 
few  days,  as  in  hydrating  his  internal 
economy  with  moisture.  Never  is  he 
caught  with  his  bunkers  empty  of  food 
for  fuel  or  repair  material.  Be  he  as 
thin  as  a  hatpin,  comparatively,  he  has 
stored  under  his  skin  enough  nourish- 
[132] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

ment  to  last  him  comfortably  for  a 
month.  Neither  is  he  terrorised  by  the 
conventional  gnawing  of  hunger.  He 
is  per  force  wise  as  to  the  physiology  of 
nourishment  and  his  stored  resources 
within,  and  turns  any  impatience  for 
his  habitual  rhythm  of  feeding  into  a 
savings  bank  fund  for  use  when  con- 
venient. He  is  not  frightened  to  death, 
as  indecent  thinkers  or  eaters  are,  by 
the  prospect  of  a  fast  lasting  a  few 
hours  or  days.  He  knows  that  he  has 
on  him  and  in  him  enough  reserve  sup- 
ply of  nourishment  in  the  form  of  visible 
or  interstitial  fat,  and  other  necessary 
supply,  to  last  for  a  long  time,  forty  or 
fifty  days,  at  least,  and  there  is  plenty 
of  time  for  expected  or  unexpected 
relief  to  happen.  He  comes  to  know 
the  value  of  his  mechanism,  and  the 
mental  and  soul  essence  it  produces  and 
supports.  His  knowledge  of  his  own 
resourcefulness  is  sufficient  to  enable 
him  to  conserve  all  vital  strength  until 
hoped  for  relief  comes.  Or,  being  in 
[133] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

tune  with  the  good  intentions  of  the 
Universal  Life  of  which  he  is  a  part, 
he  never  dreads  the  promotion  we  call 
death.  It  is  merely  a  station  on  the 
road  of  evolution,  and  just  as  sure  as 
we  are  of  death  and  taxes,  so  is  a  faith- 
ful Fletcherite  certain  that  he  is  travel- 
ling the  road  of  natural  evolution.  He 
has  not  only  eaten  decently  in  the  way 
of  fulfilling  the  natural  mechanical  and 
chemical  requirements  in  the  mouth, 
but  he  has  abstained  from  eating  when 
the  mental  state  was  not  favourable, 
and  has  refrained  from  worry  when 
the  prospect  of  a  meal  was  deferred  for 
a  little  while  or  indefinitely.  He  may 
have  been  whinnying  like  a  healthy 
horse  in  anticipation  of  revelling  in  the 
delights  of  delicious  taste,  and  yet  is 
not  filled  with  disappointment  at  the 
postponement  of  the  expected  pleasure 
if  the  dinner  appointment  is  upset  or 
delayed. 

This    quite    Utopian    possibility    of 
stable  equanimity  is  the  assured  result 
[134] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

of  consistent  decent  eating,  and  think- 
ing relative  to  nutrition.  It  is  the  con- 
stitution and  bye-laws  of  Fletcherism. 
As  a  natural  presumption,  when  de- 
cency in  one  direction  leads  to  such 
delightful  fruition,  the  opposite  of  it, 
indecency,  must  swing  its  pendulum 
to  the  extent  of  its  full  scope  in  the 
contrary  direction,  and  it  does,  for  com- 
pensation is  one  of  the  laws  of  Nature 
that  must  be  fulfilled.  It  is  true  that 
Nature  is  always  trying  to  accom- 
modate herself  to  any  abuse.  She  may 
permit  being  so  much  accustomed  to 
it  that  the  punishment  of  it  at  the 
moment  is  not  noticed.  She  even  en- 
courages the  acceleration  of  the  vicious 
circle  that  leads  to  momentary  bank- 
ruptcy of  resistance,  penitence,  and  re- 
form, as  in  the  case  of  "bilious  at- 
tacks.'' The  man  who  takes  his  daily 
or  hourly  prescription  of  alcoholic  stim- 
ulant is  permitted  to  believe  that  if  a 
little  seems  good,  more  should  be  better 
until  he  is  landed  under  the  table.     He 

[135] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

becomes  more  and  more  efficient  in 
'^standing"  the  abuse  until  "under  the 
table''  means  "under  the  sod."  The  ab- 
•uses  have,  however,  been  just  as  dis- 
agreeable to  Normality  all  the  way 
along  as  the  first  drop  of  alcohol  was 
distasteful  to  the  infant  in  arms.  So, 
too,  with  tobacco,  in  a  less  violent  form. 

Faithful  practice  of  decent  eating  re- 
verses the  order  of  progress.  Normal- 
ity of  taste  is  the  new  direction  taken. 
Appetite  is  given  a  chance  to  discrimi- 
nate, and  it  chooses  simple  food,  having 
the  chemical  constituents  required  by  the 
body  at  the  moment.  It  accommodates 
itself  to  the  daily  activity,  and  can  be 
trusted  as  the  only  completely-wise 
prescriber  of  what  food  to  take,  and 
how  much  of  it  the  body  can  utilize 
just  then. 

Herein  lies  the  value  of  decent  re- 
spect for  Appetite  in  securing  optimum 
digestion  and  nutrition.  It  does  not 
treat  all  persons  alike  because  no  two 
persons  can  be  alike.     Infinite  variety 

[136] 


DECENT  EATERS  ARE  FLETCHERITES 

is  the  fundamental  law  of  Nature. 
Some  persons  are  born  to  carry  more 
fat  than  others.  To  try  to  keep  them 
thin  IS  a  sin  against  the  natural  inten- 
tion. To  allow  them  to  become  too  fat 
is  also  a  sin.  Strictly  decent  eating 
settles  this  question  in  conjunction  with 
the  sort  and  amount  of  activity  that  the 
particular  person  is  intended  by  his  or 
her  "  Hereditary  Tendency  "  to  exert. 


[137] 


CHAPTER  XII 

FLETCHERIZING  AS   A   TEMPERANCE 
EXPEDIENT 

Tramp  Reform — (A  Remarkable  Man — ^How  to  Enjoy 
Wine — Fletcherism  as  a  Cure  for  Morbid  Crav- 
ings— A  Trial  of  Fletcherism  and  its  Results — 
Fletcherism  as  First  Aid 

Now  we  come  to  a  phase  of  the  merits 
of  Fletcherism  which  has  already  fur- 
nished an  abundance  of  evidence  to  its 
credit.  In  my  first  experiment,  not  yet 
under  academic  supervision,  with  no 
laboratory  measurements  wherewith  to 
describe  the  results  in  chemical  terms, 
I  was  dealing  with  a  company  of  or- 
dinary tramps  picked  up  in  the  streets 
of  Chicago.  They  simply  ate  what 
they  chose  to  order  from  the  bill  of  fare 
of  a  cheap  restaurant,  but  were  told  to 
chew  everything  for  all  it  was  worth, 

[138] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

which  they  made  no  objection  to  doing. 
Time  was  of  no  value  to  them,  and  they 
really  discovered  new  delights  of  gus- 
tatory pleasure  which  they  had  not 
known  before.  Tramps  are  generally 
persons  of  resourcefulness  and  have 
a  cultivated  appreciation.  Their  re- 
sourcefulness consists  chiefly  of  being 
able  to  live  without  working,  and  their 
appreciation  is  made  keen  by  the  lot- 
tery of  chance  in  seeking  to  get  some- 
thing for  which  they  give  nothing. 

My  tramps  were  beery  and  bleery  as 
tramps  generally  are,  but  not  so  dirty; 
for  I  paid  for  baths,  washing,  and  in 
some  instances  furnished  clothing.  Be- 
sides supplying  these  luxuries,  I  gave 
them  occasionally  a  big  silver  dollar 
which  they  called  a  ''cart  wheel.'' 

It  was  surprising  to  see  these  degen- 
erates freshen  up  in  appearance  and 
lose  their  blotchiness  and  greasiness  of 
facial  appearance.  I  knew  how  to  talk 
to  them  to  get  their  confidence,  and  they 
looked  on  me  as  just  another  "freak" 

[139] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

like  themselves,  but  with  some  kind  of 
a  money  "pull." 

There  were  fat  and  thin  among  them, 
and  it  was  a  matter  of  surprise  that 
after  a  little  some  of  the  thin  got  stouter 
and  the  fat  fell  off  in  weight  at  the 
same  time.  One  of  them  was  a  bellig- 
erent socialist  and  the  author  of  a  well- 
known  book  which  had  quite  a  vogue  in 
the  earlier  history  of  present-day  so- 
cialism. 

Up  to  the  time  I  began  my  own  ex- 
periment, I  had  been  a  social  drinker 
of  alcohol  in  all  forms  to  the  full  extent 
of  "gentlemanly  decency,"  with  occa- 
sional slips  when  near  the  outer  edge 
that  made  me  ashamed  of  myself  after 
I  got  sober  again.  I  am  now  more 
ashamed  than  ever  when  I  am  reminded 
of  my  early  foolishness,  but  since  my 
experiences  are  being  turned  to  good 
account  I  forgive  myself.  Not  only 
were  social  occasions  an  excuse,  but  I 
often  ordered  the  social  occasions  to 
serve  as  an  excuse.  I  had  never  re- 
[140] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

sorted  to  snake-bites  to  give  legitimate 
excuses,  but  I  so  crowded  my  resources 
in  this  direction  that  at  one  time  I  held 
the  "record,"  for  the  community  in 
which  I  lived,  for  what  was  called  "hol- 
lowness  of  legs  and  steadiness  of  head," 
and  so  much  was  this  "strength  of  char- 
acter" valued  in  that  community  in 
America,  that  one  was  supposed  to  take 
pride  in  holding  the  record. 

The  result  of  my  own  pursuit  of 
thorough  tasting  of  my  food  had  been 
that  my  own  ponderosity  of  front 
weight  fell  off,  and  at  the  same  time  I 
had  no  desire  for  wine  or  beer.  It  was 
all  a  surprise  to  me,  but  it  was  not  an 
amazing  surprise  until  one  day  one  of 
my  tramp  guests  came  to  me  and  said: 
"Boss,  this  eatin'  game  is  great;  think 
of  me  with  a  dollar  in  my  pocket  and 
not  wantin'  beer." 

In  a  short  time  I  forgot  that  I  had 
ever  liked  wine  or  beer.  It  never  oc- 
curred to  me  to  order  it  except  for  a 
guest,  and  then  I  took  it  with  him,  or, 

[141] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

rather  them,  for  there  were  usually 
several  or  many  at  my  eating  parties, 
but  in  the  Fletcherian  manner  which  is 
so  eminently  Epicurean  that  a  few  sips 
went  as  far  as  a  half-bottle  used  to  do. 
Here  is  an  important  point  in  profitable 
economics  that  any  one  can  demon- 
strate for  himself  at  once  and  not  rely 
on  my  sayso,  or  that  of  any  one  else. 
Later  on  I  will  tell  how  to  do  it.  The 
secret  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold  as  an 
Epicurean  prize  as  well  as  a  money- 
saver.  I  have  to  tell,  a  little  further 
on,  of  a  very  large  experiment  which 
came  as  a  surprise  also.  It  was  in  a 
section  of  country,  and  among  a  class 
of  people,  where  to  escape  from  the 
toils  of  the  drink  demon  is  nothing 
short  of  a  miracle. 

A   REMARKABLE    MAN 

But  before  I  relate  this  climaxic  ex- 
perience I  will  once  more  refer  to  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  men  I  have  had 
the    pleasure    of    meeting.     His    case 
[142] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

covers  more  sides  of  healthy  variety 
than  that  of  almost  any  one,  but  he  has 
even  a  better  showing  in  some  respects 
than  any.  He  is  an  M.D. ;  a  Ph.D. ;  an 
Sc.D.;  an  A.M.;  and  a  P.H.D.;  which 
last  is  the  ''stiffest  exam."  of  them  all. 
He  is  a  champion  athlete;  the  father  of 
an  all-round  college  champion;  and  as 
graceful  a  gymnast  as  any  one  ever  saw 
do  the  "Giant  Swing"  on  the  horizontal 
bar.  He  is  also  a  grandfather  and 
now  past  fifty. 

This  was  his  experience  in  1902  or 
1903,  in  connection  with  my  being 
called  to  New  Haven  to  submit  to  ex- 
amination under  the  supervision  of  Pro- 
fessor Chittenden.  It  is  Dr.  Ander- 
son to  whom  I  refer,  and  he  permits  my 
stating  his  experience  as  often  as  I 
like  for  the  good  it  will  do.  My  ex- 
pression of  appreciation  of  his  academic 
and  athletic  accomplishments  is  all  my 
own  and  not  authorized. 

When  I  was  turned  over  to  Dr. 
Anderson  for  physical  examination  in 

[143] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

the  Yale  gymnasium,  my  fitness  was 
surprising  to  him  as  he  has  stated  in 
his  reports.  He  was  also  ripe  for  the 
reasonableness  of  my  revelations.  He 
seemed  to  me  to  be  in  the  "pink  of  con- 
dition" himself,  and  he  was  so,  as 
"pink"  was  judged  at  the  time,  for  a 
man  of  his  age. 

Dr.  Anderson  tried  more  careful 
mastication  than  usual,  and  paid  more 
attention  to  the  thorough  enjoyment  of 
his  food  with  the  same  pleasant  results 
that  come  to  everybody  when  making 
the  trial,  no  matter  how  moderate  and 
temperate  they  have  been  before.  It  is 
equivalent  to  putting  a  little  keener 
edge  on  appetite  than  usual.  Children 
and  even  fine  ladies  will  perk  up  a  little 
when  they  are  conscious  of  being 
noticed,  and  the  human  senses  are  hu- 
man in  more  ways  than  one. 

Dr.  Anderson  was  pleased  with  the 
revelation  as  a  pleasure  promoter,  but 
did  not  notice  that  he  was  forgetting  to 
[144] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

take  his  daily  prescription  of  stimulant. 
He  was  a  medical  man,  past  forty,  be- 
ginning to  slack  up  a  little  in  his  elas- 
ticity and  strength.  He  was  reaching 
that  age  when  even  the  most  temperate 
and  careful  begin  to  be  a  little  lenient 
with  themselves.  His  doctor  friends 
were  in  the  habit  of  prescribing  a  little 
stimulant  to  counter-balance  this  ex- 
pected decline  in  energy  and  he  took 
their  advice.  It  was  the  medical  fad 
of  the  period. 

At  first,  Dr.  Anderson  ordered  for 
himself  one  small  drink  of  good  medic- 
inal whisky  a  day,  and  the  effect  was 
as  expected.  By  and  bye,  however,  a 
little  more  was  needed,  and  this  increas- 
ing demand  continued  its  insistence  un- 
til three  drinks  were  no  more  efficacious 
than  one  had  been  at  first.  When  I 
was  introduced  to  him  he  had  begun  on 
his  fourth  drink  daily,  and  yet  burned 
it  up  in  his  exercise  without  feeling  it 
much. 

[145] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

A  couple  of  weeks  after  he  began  to 
check  up  my  test  by  personal  expe- 
rience, which  is  the  only  scientific  way, 
he  all  at  once  remembered,  one  day,  that 
he  had  forgotten  to  take  his  whisky, 
and  yet  he  was  fitter  than  usual.  I  had 
not  mentioned  my  own  experience  in 
this  regard  to  him,  I  believe,  as  when 
we  were  together  he  kept  me  busy  with* 
the  exercises  of  the  ^Varsity  crew,  and 
I  had  little  chance  to  give  him  accounts 
of  my  full  experience.  Besides,  it  did 
not  occur  to  me  that  it  would  interest 
him  who  seemed  to  be  moderation  and 
temperance  personified.  And  so  he 
was,  according  to  the  scientific  estimate 
of  the  time,  but  Nature  has  another 
standard  of  temperance,  and  under  her 
strict  guidance  very  little  but  good 
spring  water  is  needed  or  desired. 

HOW   TO   ENJOY   WINE 

To  illustrate  this  and  also  suggest  a 
way  of  letting  Mother  Nature  prove 
that  I  represent  her  correctly  in  this 

[146] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

important  matter,  I  will  give  an  account 
of  an  actual  happening. 

I  was  lecturing  in  Buffalo,  New 
York,  in  America,  and  was  invited  to 
address  the  members  of  the  sumptuous 
Buffalo  Club.  I  dwelt  especially  on 
Fletcherizing  as  a  means  of  getting  the 
good  and  the  best  out  of  food  and  drink, 
and  yet  for  little  cost,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  lecture  a  dozen  or  more  of  the 
audience  asked  me  to  demonstrate  my 
point  as  above.  I  was  happy  to  do  this, 
and  called  for  a  pint  of  the  choicest  still 
wine,  with  cordial  glasses.  The  re- 
quest caused  a  smile  among  some  of  my 
hosts  who  were  proud  of  being  "one 
bottle"  consumers. 

When  the  wine  came  I  poured  out 
half  a  cordial  glass  as  the  portion  I 
selected  for  myself  and  recommended 
the  same  prescription  for  the  others,  as 
a  "starter.''  Then  I  breathed  and 
sipped  my  delicious  grape-juice,  as  I 
had  learned  to  do  from  the  professional 
wine-tasters  on  the  Rhine,  in  Germany, 

[147] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

and  in  the  Burgundy  region,  in  France. 
The  others  did  the  same,  and  seemed  to 
get  unusual  satisfaction  from  both  the 
boquet  and  the  taste. 

What  happens  is  this:  You  sense 
the  wine  by  means  of  the  olfactories  as 
you  would  breathe  in  the  odour  of  a 
delicately  perfumed  flower.  Taste  is 
excited  and  becomes  jealous  of  Smell. 
You  give  Taste  a  taste.  Something 
more  subtle  than  taste ;  a  sort  of  aroma, 
so  to  speak,  spreads  over  the  head. 
You  feel  the  taste  of  the  delicacy  up 
around  the  temples,  and  the  sensation 
is  delightful  in  the  extreme,  fading 
slowly  away  but  leaving  a  lovely  mem- 
ory impression. 

Then  you  take  another  sip,  and  the 
sensation  is  about  the  same,  and  so  on 
for  a  sip  or  two  more,  when  the  suprem- 
est  delicacy  of  the  wine  ceases  to  ex- 
press itself.  Two  or  three  sips  more, 
and  the  wine  no  longer  tastes  good. 
Carried    further,    in    this    appetite-re- 

[148] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

specting  manner,  there  will  be  a  desire 
to  spit  out  the  sips,  and  there  is  no 
temptation  to  drink  them. 

Professional  wine-tasters  are  sup- 
posed never  to  drink  wine.  After  tast- 
ing it  they  spit  out  the  remnant  from 
which  the  taste  has  been  exhausted. 
Tea  tasters  and  beer  tasters  and  special 
food  tasters  do  the  same  in  order  to 
preserve  their  keen  taste  discrimination. 

There  is  just  as  definite  Swallowing 
Sense  and  Expectorating  Sense  as  there 
is  Taste  Sense.  There  is  just  as  strong 
Appetite  Sense  for  proteid,  when  the 
body  is  short  of  it,  as  there  is  thirst- 
demand  for  water  for  the  rehydration 
of  the  body.     The  Senses  have  sense! 

Returning  to  the  Buffalo  Club  ex- 
periment in  demonstrating  Epicurean 
Temperance:  The  half-bottle  of  wine 
gave  more  satisfaction  to  the  dozen  or 
more  members  of  the  Club  who  partici- 
pated in  the  experiment  than  any  of 
them  knew  was  possible. 
[149] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

FLETCHERISM    AS    A    CURE    FOR    MORBID 
CRAVINGS 

It  IS  not  necessary  to  supply  expen- 
sive wine  for  the  complete  satisfaction 
of  the  most  delicate  epicureanism  if 
Fletcherizing  is  employed  as  an  habit- 
ual cream-separating  means.  The 
cream  of  common  wheat  bread,  and  of 
anything  that  the  normalized  appetite 
favours,  is  as  satisfying  when  the  body 
is  in  need  of  what  it  contains  as  are 
drops  of  the  most  costly  Johannisberger 
of  the  rarest  vintages,  and  nothing  but 
water  thoroughly  quenches  real  thirst. 

The  "testimonials''  of  one  sort  and 
another,  including  letters  and  verbal  ac- 
count, attesting  to  the  effect  of  natural 
eating  on  abnormal  desires  or  cravings, 
number  thousands.  The  reform  has 
not  been  the  result  of  suggestion,  al- 
though in  some  cases  suggestion  has  as- 
sisted the  cure  of  intemperate  yearn- 
ings. Not  alone  has  craving  for  alco- 
holic stimulant  been  abated,  but  in  other 

[150] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

ways  morbidity  has  been  corrected,  and 
I  as  well  as  some  medical  men  I  know, 
have  received  grateful  acknowledgment 
of  the  happiness  secured  by  the  natural 
sloughing  off  of  weaknesses  or  passions 
which  had  been  a  source  of  self-hatred. 
Think  what  immunity  from  such  bane- 
ful possibilities  means  to  youth  of  both 
sexes ! 

A   TRIAL   OF   FLETCHERISM    AND   ITS 
RESULTS 

The  very  large  test  of  Fletcherism  as 
a  temperance  expedient  hereinbefore  re- 
ferred to  was  entirely  accidental.  It 
occurred  in  a  community  of  students  of 
a  missionary  college  in  Tennessee. 

The  institution  is  conducted  under 
religious  auspices,  the  sect  supporting  it 
being  that  called  "Seventh-Day  Advent- 
ists."  The  buildings  are  on  a  large 
farm,  and  most  of  the  students  earn 
their  board  and  tuition  by  doing  farm 
work.  Many  subsist  by  what  is  called 
"boarding   themselves,"   that   is:   pur- 

[151] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

chasing  raw  food  and  doing  their  own 
cooking.  To  assist  in  this  independ- 
ence there  is  a  commissary  where  every- 
thing needed  is  bartered  or  sold. 

One  of  the  prominent  persons  in  the 
Adventist  denomination  is  Dr.  Kellog, 
Superintendent  of  the  Battle  Creek 
Sanatorium,  who  from  the  beginning 
has  been  one  of  the  most  ardent  advo- 
cates and  teachers  of  Fletcherism,  and 
to  whom  is  largely  due  the  permanency 
of  its  designation  as  "Fletcherism.'' 

During  a  visit  to  the  Tennessee  insti- 
tution, Dr.  Kellog  so  successfully 
preached  the  merits  of  natural  eating, 
that  all  the  students  were  induced  to 
give  it  a  trial  as  a  health  and  economic 
measure. 

The  trial  was  conducted  under  obser- 
vation for  six  months,  when  an  account- 
ing was  made.  During  the  six  months 
the  drafts  on  the  commissary  had  been 
a  trifle  less  than  half  what  they  for- 
merly had  been,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
community   had    been    free    from    the 

[152] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

usual  "seasonable"  and  bilious  com- 
plaints or  illnesses.  No  one  had  been 
cured  of  a  craving  for  alcohol,  for  the 
reason  that  all  were  teetotalers  on  prin- 
ciple, but  the  sheer  economy  and  health- 
fulness  of  the  results  obtained  were  of 
prodigious  importance  to  young  per- 
sons "working  their  way  through  col- 
lege." The  amount  of  the  benefit  can 
be  imagined  when  it  is  considered  that 
they  needed  to  work  less  on  the  farm  to 
earn  their  food  because  the  food-bill 
was  much  reduced.  The  time  saved 
from  work  was  available  for  study,  and 
the  increase  of  energy  and  immunity 
from  sickness  added  enormously  to  the 
average  studentability. 

One  day  there  was  brought  to  the  in- 
stitution on  a  stretcher  a  poor  chap  of 
the  neighbourhood,  crazy  with  delirium 
tremens.  In  the  infirmary  of  the  col- 
lege emergency  patients  were  received, 
as  part  of  the  missionary  training  is 
medical. 

The  sorry  dipsomaniac  was  sobered- 

[153] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

up  in  the  usual  way  and  instructed  in 
the  process  of  Fletcherizing.  He  took 
kindly  to  it,  as  all  do  who  have  been 
dietetic  sinners,  and  the  result  was  the 
same  as  with  the  beery  and  bleery  tramp 
mentioned  in  the  early  part  of  this 
chapter.  He  lost  his  "taste"  for 
''booze"  and  continued  the  incident  by 
becoming  a  worker  on  the  place  and  a 
sound  temperance  example. 

Here  is  a  revelation  worth  while  to 
the  missionary  workers.  Their  field  of 
service  was  the  mountain  districts  of 
their  State  and  the  neighbouring  State 
of  North  Carolina,  which  are  famous 
for  their  moonshine  whisky  stills.  The 
whisky  distilled  in  the  mountains  does 
not  pay  any  Internal  Revenue  tax  if  it 
can  be  avoided,  and  hence  the  stills  are 
hidden  in  deep  forests  and  operated  by 
the  light  of  the  moon.  The  inhabitants 
of  these  lawless  regions  are  the  poor- 
est of  the  poor  and  call  down  the  con- 
tempt of  the  negroes.  They  are  called 
"poor    white    trash,"    and    moonshine 

[154] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

whisky  that  will  kill  at  fifty  yards  is 
responsible  for  much  of  the  poverty  and 
trashiness.  They  are  as  good  marks 
for  missionary  sympathy  as  any  *'hea- 
then''  the  world  can  produce  anywhere. 
I  have  been  among  them  all  and  I  as- 
sure you,  these  listless  and  luckless 
inebriates  of  the  poor  white  trash 
regions  are  the  most  pitiable. 

FLETCHERISM    AS    FIRST   AID 

As  soon  as  the  incident  of  the  victim 
of  delirium  tremens  had  been  measured 
at  its  full  significance,  it  dawned  upon 
the  missionaries  that  Fletcherism  was 
to  be  their  most  potent  assistant  in  cur- 
ing the  mountaineers  of  their  vices  and 
preparing  them  for  religious  instruc- 
tion. They  were  won  over  to  the  ideal 
of  Dietetic  Corpoculture  as  "First  Aid 
to  the  Injured"  in  establishing  Temper- 
ance on  a  sound  basis. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  graduated  mis- 
sionaries introduced  themselves  to  their 
charges  by  building   simple   ovens   of 

[155] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

road-side  stones  in  rail-fence  corners,  as 
field  surveyors  might  do,  and  invited 
those  who  came  along  to  feed  with 
them. 

There  is  never  any  trouble  in  securing 
guests  at  a  feed  anywhere,  and  it  is  ex- 
tremely easy  among  the  poor  to  whom 
free  food  means  less  work  and  more 
leisure.  It  is  easy,  too,  to  get  the  ears 
and  attention  of  guests  at  meals  who 
would  like  to  be  invited  again.  It  is 
also  easy  to  teach  Fletcherizihg  to 
youthful  dinner-guests,  as  Madame  La 
Marquise  de  Chamberay  and  I  found  out 
in  connection  with  our  East  Side  in- 
vestigation in  New  York.* 

The  result  of  this  strategy  on  the 
part  of  the  Tennessee  missionaries  was 
reported  to  a  meeting  at  the  Battle 
Creek  Sanatorium,  and  the  summary  of 
the  good  attained  up  to  that  time  was 

*  This  reference  is  to  an  unique  experiment  in  New 
York,  account  of  which  will  sometime  be  published 
under  the  title  of  "Parties  of  Politeness,"  a  name 
suggested  by  the  little  guests  themselves. 

[156] 


AS   A   TEMPERANCE   EXPEDIENT 

as  follows :  More  than  a  thousand  per- 
sons were  saving  an  average  of  $3.00 
a  month  on  the  cost  of  their  sustenance, 
and  were  temperance  converts  through 
the  sloughing  off  of  all  desire  for  their 
moonshine  product.  Think  of  a  saving 
from  sheer  waste  of  $3,000  a  month 
($36,000  a  year)  to  a  community  where 
$1,000  is  considered  to  be  a  princely 
fortune,  and  a  saving  of  a  thousand 
human  units  from  the  scrap-heap  of 
worse  than  death! 


[157] 


CHAPTER  XIII 

THE  MENACE  OF  MODERN  MIXED  MENUS 

Gluttony  and  Avoirdupois — Contentment — Fletcher- 
ism  and  Political  Economy 

While  it  is  true  that  ''Variety  is  the 
spice  of  life,"  and  that  an  appetising 
variety  of  plain  food  is  more  tempting 
than  a  monotony  of  the  most  highly- 
spiced  dishes,  every  tendency  of  mod- 
ern menus  is  a  menace  to  health,  and 
the  only  way  to  counteract  the  menace 
is  to  be  especially  careful  in  observing 
the  rules  of  Epicurean  Economy. 

If  the  soup  is  particularly  good,  there 
is  a  temptation  to  go  on  and  completely 
satisfy  the  appetite  on  it.  It  requires 
the  restraint  of  civilized  suppression  to 
keep  from  following  the  example  of 
Oliver  Twist,  calling  for  more  and 
more  till  the  supply  or  appetite  is  ex- 
hausted. 

[158] 


MENACE   OF    MODERN    MIXED    MENUS 

Then  comes  the  fish:  Who  can  re- 
sist accepting  a  generous  helping  of 
this  course,  served  in  any  one  of  the 
dozens  of  styles  that  are  familiar  to 
the  patrons  of  French  restaurants? 
And  how  hard  it  is  to  refrain  from 
cleaning  up  the  plate  in  a  hurry  so  that 
none  of  it  will  be  whisked  away  by  the 
waiter  to  make  room  for  course  number 
three. 

Nothing  has  been  said  of  the  Hors 
d'ceuvres  of  the  French  menu,  or  the 
Ris  Tavel  of  the  Dutch  East  Indian 
gorge,  or  the  Smoer  Gose  of  a  Scandi- 
navian "Spread."  A  fairly  ravenous 
person,  given  time  enough,  and  with 
no  one  looking,  can  be  counted  on  to 
make  a  "square  meal"  on  these  "ap- 
petizers" alone  before  the  soup  is  an- 
nounced. 

Mention  of  the  "Roast;'  the  "En- 
trees;'  the  ''Legumes;'  the  "Dessert;' 
and  a  bewildering  variety  of  cheeses  to 
be  followed  by  fruit,  nuts  and  raisins, 
with  several  different  wines,  cordials, 

[159] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

coffee,  and  cigars  or  cigarettes  on  the 
side.  Even  mention  of  them  is  Hkely 
to  cause  psychic  indigestion. 

If  one  goes  to  a  restaurant  with  a 
quarto,  gih-top  appetite,  and  scans  one 
of  the  monster,  modern,  mixed  menus 
for  a  suggestion  of  what  he  shall  order, 
he  will,  undoubtedly,  see  five  or  six 
items  that  will  appeal  to  his  imagination 
as  "just  the  thing" ;  and  if  the  cost  is  no 
special  reason  for  restraint,  he  will  put 
down  on  his  order  list  twice  or  three 
times  as  much  as  he  can  possibly  eat  in 
order  to  be  as  many  kinds  of  a  fam  dool 
as  he  can  be  at  the  moment. 

This  is  not  an  unreasonable  or  fan- 
tastic illustration  of  the  menace  of  a 
multiple  menu  and  a  colossal  appetite  in 
convenient  conjunction.  It  is  said  that 
an  amorous  lover  has  neither  conscience 
nor  discretion.  This  may  sometimes 
be  the  case;  but  it  is  always  a  sure  bet- 
ting proposition  that  an  opulent,  raven- 
ously-hungry person  will  measure  off 
[i6o] 


MENACE   OF    MODERN    MIXED   MENUS 

with  his  eager  eyes  much  more  than  his 
tummy  can  possibly  hold. 

Then  follows  the  inclination  of  the 
average  human  being  to  "'get  his 
money's  worth/'  even  if  he  "must  die 
for  it."  This  is  not  alone  a  human 
characteristic  exaggerated  in  sumptu- 
ously-civilized communities,  but  it  is  an 
animal  trait  as  well.  If  a  racehorse  is 
turned  out  in  a  field  of  clover  that 
stands  as  high  as  his  neck,  he  will  very 
likely  eat  himself  to  death.  Likewise, 
if  a  little  child,  with  the  animal  char- 
acteristics uppermost,  is  given  a  bag  of 
sweets,  he  will  be  sure  to  want  to  put 
himself  securely  outside  of  the  whole 
bag-full  in  the  shortest  time  possible, 
so  that  he  will  make  certain  that  no  one 
will  take  it  away  from  him. 

GLUTTONY   AND   AVOIRDUPOIS 

The  menace  of  the  munificent  menu 
also   leads    to    the    uncomfortable   ac- 
quisition of  surplus  avoirdupois.     On 
[i6i] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

some  persons  it  has  quite  the  opposite 
effect,  however.  The  writer  remem- 
bers that  it  was  a  tradition  in  his  col- 
lege that  the  thinnest  man  of  a  class  was 
always  the  biggest  glutton.  Each 
year,  a  prize  of  a  combination  knife, 
fork,  and  spoon,  was  given  to  the  gross- 
est eater  of  the  junior  class.  Within 
my  memory  the  recipient  was  always  a 
very  thin  and  cadaverous  fellow. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  hardest  work 
done  by  the  body  is  performed  within 
the  body.  It  is  the  work  of  digestion, 
general  metabolism,  and  the  constant 
and  never-ceasing  pumping  of  the  blood 
through  hundreds  of  miles  of  veins  and 
arteries.  If  this  work  is  measured  in 
terms  of  heat  units  thrown  off  (cal- 
ories) the  internal  activity  of  the  body 
is  as  two  to  three  parts  of  the  whole 
heat  energy  released  into  the  surround- 
ing air. 

It  is  quite  possible  to  increase  this 
heat  expense  by  20  to  50  per  cent,  by 
merely  overloading  the  stomach  a  little, 

[162] 


MENACE   OF    MODERN    MIXED    MENUS 

and  crowding  the  mechanism  of  metab- 
olism to  its  utmost.  Sometimes  the 
crowding  is  carried  so  far  that  the  or- 
ganism cannot  stand  it;  sometimes 
bursts ;  and,  there  you  are — dead. 

CONTENTMENT 

The  supremest  felicity  is  not  wanting 
anything.  If  one  cannot  think  of  a 
single  thing  in  the  wide,  wide  world, 
not  even  oblivion,  that  they  would  have 
in  addition  to  what  they  are  enjoying 
at  the  moment,  their  cup  of  content- 
ment is  full. 

In  regard  to  eating,  to  have  Fletcher- 
ized  a  few  morsels  of  the  finest  food 
that  anyone's  mother  ever  made,  until 
there  is  no  desire  for  more,  and  yet  the 
contentment  is  of  that  calm  sort  that  in- 
dicates that  there  is  no  overloading  of 
the  stomach,  is  gastronomic  Heaven, 
and  it  carries  with  it  a  blanket  of  gen- 
eral contentment  that  covers  the  uni- 
verse. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  have  eaten  un- 

[163] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

wisely,  as  the  result  of  animal  voracity, 
over-estimate  of  capacity,  and  greed  of 
getting  outside  of  all  that  must  be  paid 
for,  or,  in  slavish  deference  to  aggres- 
sive hospitality,  is  Hell  from  the  finish 
of  the  meal  until  the  finish  of  the  "spell 
of  sickness"  that  may  follow  the  gorge. 
It  were  almost  possible  to  sink  into  the 
depths  of  such  gluttony  on  any  one,  two 
or  three  of  the  best  dishes  possible  to  im- 
agine; only  a  modern  multiple  mixed 
menu  is  liable  to  bring  this  degradation, 
and  hence  the  menace  of  it. 

Suppose,  again,  you  are  framing  up 
a  business  deal,  and  have  a  customer 
"on  the  string."  The  best  way  to  get 
at  his  heart  and  pocket-book  is  through 
the  sociability  accompanying  a  sumptu- 
ous meal. 

You  seek  a  Princess'  Restaurant,  a 
Ritz-Carlton  or  a  Waldorf,  and  make  a 
spread  of  your  Epicurean  generosity, 
your  bank  account,  and  your  business 
web  or  net.  If  you  insist  on  filling  your 
guests  full  of  everything,  you  must  set 

[164] 


MENACE   OF    MODERN    MIXED    MENUS 

the  example.     Results:     Similar  in  all 
cases. 

Science  is  not  even  secure  against  the 
temptation  of  the  monumental  menu. 
The  writer  has  known  the  citadel  of 
scientific  conservatism  to  be  captured  by 
five-dollar  still-wine  and  fifty-cent 
cigars,  as  accompaniments  of  six-course 
dinner-dreams.  This,  too,  in  the  in- 
terest of  an  Epicurean  Economy  that 
put  all  of  the  academic  teachings  in  the 
back-number  list,  and  favored  fifty- 
cent  banquets  with  nary  a  cigar  to  top 
off  the  feast 

FLETCHERISM  AND  POLITICAL  ECONOMY 

It  may  be  argued  that  the  waste  at- 
tendant on  sumptuous  living  is  the  most 
prolific  means  of  keeping  money  in 
circulation:  of  putting  bread  into  the 
mouth  of  the  servant  class:  and  that 
Spartan  simplicity  would  throw  the 
world  back  two  thousand  years  in  the 
civilized  progress  it  has  made. 

That  might  be  true  of  some  forms 

[165] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  sumptuousness,  but  not  as  to  the  wan- 
ton waste  of  food  through  the  temp- 
tations of  magnificent  menus.  Food  is 
the  realest  of  all  forms  of  wealth. 
Scarce  ever  a  grain  of  wheat  or  kernel 
of  corn  is  wasted.  The  story  of  the 
Englishman  who  visited  Kansas,  and 
from  there  took  home  to  London  a 
colossal  joke  at  the  expense  of  corn  and 
Kansas,  illustrates  the  permanence  and 
indestructibility  of  food  wealth. 

Riding  through  the  State,  with  a 
native  Kansan,  an  English  globe-trotter 
wondered  at  the  endless  fields  of  yellow 
"maize."  He  called  it  maize,  but  the 
Kansan  called  it  "corn." 

"What  in  the  world  do  you  do  with 
all  this  maize?"  said  the  mobilized 
Cockney.  "Oh,  that  is  easy,"  replied 
the  native :  "We  eat  what  we  can  and 
we  can  what  we  can't." 

In  due  season  this  strange  answer 
was  interpreted  to  the  visitor  and  he 
determined  to  can  the  joke  for  serving 
up  at  his  club  in  London. 
[i66] 


MENACE   OF    MODERN    MIXED    MENUS 

Arriving  in  England,  the  joker  made 
deliberate  preparations  to  open  his  can 
of  Kansas  corn  to  the  best  effect.  He 
invited  a  set  of  chappies  to  dine  with 
him  and  the  piece  de  resistance  was 
Kansas  canned  corn. 

Having  engineered  the  matter  to  the 
right  point  of  curiosity,  the  host  told 
the  story  of  his  visit  to  Kansas  and 
finally  exploded  his  iinale  in  this  wise: 
"Do  you  know,  these  Americans  out  in 
the  West  are  a  jolly  lot.  They  have  a 
dry  sort  of  wit,  too.  I  was  travelling 
in  company  with  one  of  them  through 
the  State  of  Kansas,  which  is  the  great 
maize  State  of  the  country.  They 
don't  call  it  maize,  however,  they  call  it 
corn,  and  what  we  call  corn  they  call 
wheat.  Well,  I  was  amazed  at  the 
miles  and  miles  of  maize — no  pun  in- 
tended and  no  apology  needed — and 
asked  my  companion  whatever  in  the 
world  they  did  with  it  all.  And  what 
do  you  think  he  said:     He  said,  'We 

[167] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

eat  what  we  can  and  the  rest  we  put  up 
in  tins  r" 

It  took  the  perpetrator  of  the  joke 
another  week  to  find  out  why  no  one 
laughed,  and  spoiled  everything  by  still 
waiting  for  the  point  after  the  real  ex- 
plosion took  place :  and  no  international 
incident  is  recorded  in  the  history  of 
that  day. 

Yes,  the  really  most  vital  wealth  is 
stored  in  the  food  treasuries.  Pro- 
fusion of  it  carries  down  the  prices  and 
this  raises  wages  by  comparison. 
There  is  always  a  spot-cash  market  for 
food  at  some  price,  which  is  not  the 
case  with  many  other  forms  of  prop- 
erty. 

But  the  waste  of  the  food  material 
itself  is  insignificant  compared  to  the 
waste  of  energy  that  must  take  place 
to  get  rid  of  it,  the  moment  it  is  swal- 
lowed and  beyond  personal  responsi- 
bility. The  transportation  of  a  car- 
load of  wheat  by  rail  from  Saskatche- 
wan to  the  Atlantic  seaboard  by  rail  and 
[i68] 


MENACE   OF   MODERN    MIXED    MENUS 

across  the  ocean  by  steamer  is  small 
as  compared  with  the  expense  of  get- 
ting a  mouthful  of  bolted  bread  through 
an  alimentary  canal  that  is  congested 
with  indigestion. 


[169] 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   CRUX   OF   FLETCHERISM 

The  Value  of  Occasional  Fasting — The  Power  of 
Freedom  from  Indigestion — Muscles  have  Mem- 
ories 

Almost  everybody  eats  with  suf- 
ficient care  most  of  the  time ;  otherwise, 
all  would  be  on  the  sick-list  all  the  time 
and  the  death-rate  would  be  increased 
enormously. 

Whatever  sickness,  depression,  weak- 
ness and  other  illnesses  there  are  now 
are  the  result  of  occasional  carelessness 
only. 

The  remedy  for  lapses  from  careful- 
ness is  knowledge  of  what  the  natural 
requirements  are,  and  training  the  mus- 
cles and  functions  employed  in  nutrition 
to  work  always  with  careful  delibera- 
tion and  never  allow  themselves  to  be 
hurried  with  their  work. 
[170] 


THE   CRUX   OF    FLETCHERISM 

It  should  also  be  made  a  habit 

NOT   TO   EAT  ANYTHING 

Without  a  keen  appetite.  This  involves 
knowing  how  to  recognise  a  true  ap- 
petite and  also  how  to  detect  a  false 
craving.  Waiting  for  a  healthful  call 
for  food,  for  any  length  of  time,  can  do 
no  harm,  and  should  not  cause  any  dis- 
comfort or  inconvenience;  but  exciting 
a  false  desire  and  taking  food  before 
the  body  is  ''good  and  ready"  for  it, 
starts  trouble  brewing  at  once. 

If  the  worst  results  of  premature  or 
hurried  eating  were  immediately  felt, 
no  one  would  get  in  the  habit  of  sinning 
in  this  manner.  Like  auto-intoxica- 
tion from  excess  of  alcohol,  poisoning 
from  unnecessary  or  unwelcome  food 
— either  an  excess  of  it  or  when  taken 
untimely — is  an  aftermath  of  unhealthy 
stimulation  or  exhilaration. 

The  crux,  then,  of  dietetic  righteous- 
ness, or,  Fletcherism,  is  habituating  the 

[171] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

body  to  practise  that  Eternal  Vigilance, 
which  is 

THE  PRICE  OF  FREEDOM   FROM   INDIGES- 
TION 

It  should  be  much  easier  to  instal 
a  habit  of  carefulness  than  it  is  to  per- 
mit habits  of  carelessness.  It  is  pos- 
sible so  to  sensitize  the  muscles  which 
control  swallowing  that  they  will  refuse 
to  act  and  will  cause  choking  if  an  at- 
tempt to  swallow  prematurely  is  made. 
Systematic  attention  to  this  detail  of 
care  for  a  week  will  secure  it  as  a  per- 
manent habit  without  need  of  any  fur- 
ther attention  to  it. 

The  statement  that  it  is  easier  to  do 
the  right  thing  than  it  is  to  do  the 
wrong  thing:  and  that  it  is  easier  to 
fix  firmly  good  habits  than  it  is  to  ac- 
quire bad  habits,  will  probably  be  ques- 
tioned or  disputed  by  many;  but  prac- 
tice of  the  principles  which  underlie 
Fletcherism  will  cure  such  pessimism 
relative  to  the  attitude  of  Mother  Na- 
[172] 


THE    CRUX    OF   FLETCHERISM 

ture  towards  her  most  perfect  product 
in  general,  Man. 

Man  is  given  more  liberty  and  more 
license  than  any  other  natural  expres- 
sion and,  with  the  endowment  which  we 
call  "intelligence,"  he  is  raised  to  a 
position  of  partnership  in  assisting  nat- 
ural evolution  and  progress. 

From  inklings  of  experience  it  is 
reasonably  inferred  that  Man  is  more 
susceptible  to  evolutionary  influence 
than  any  of  the  animal  kind;  that  he 
can  ever  progressively  train  himself  to- 
wards higher  and  higher  superman- 
hood  ;  that  he  is  able  to  perform  marvels 
in  taming  and  training  other  animals 
and  in  perfecting  plant  life  to  prodi- 
gious proportions.  He  is  even  "gifted" 
to  the  extent  of  overcoming,  harness- 
ing, and  using  at  will  the  "forces  of  Na- 
ture," and  dispelling  the  mysteries. 
He  can  only  do  this,  however^  by  co- 
operating with  Nature  in  the  most  in- 
telligent and  faithful  manner. 

To  ascertain  Nature's  requirements 

[173] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  preferences  it  is  necessary  to  begin 
with  the  first  essentials  of  care,  the  nu- 
trition of  the  body  and  the  management 
of  the  mind.  These  basic  essentials  are 
the  first  concern  of  Fletcherism  and 
really  the  crux  of  the  Scientific  Manage- 
ment of  the  Highest  Efficiency. 

One  of  the  most  important  discov- 
eries in  the  development  of  Fletcherism 
is  the  fact  that 

MUSCLES  HAVE  MEMORIES 

The  usefulness  of  this  discovery  rests 
in  the  knowledge  that  it  is  possible  to 
make  the  muscles  connected  with  nutri- 
tion commit  to  memory  the  sequences 
of  procedure  in  the  processes  of  nutri- 
tion which  accomplish  the  most  profita- 
ble results,  and  then  pass  on  to  other 
details  of  responsibility  care-free  and 
thought-free,  fully  confident  that  every- 
thing will  go  on  as  Nature  would  have 
it  go. 

Without  beginning  this  discipline  of 
the   muscular   equipment   at  the   right 

[174] 


THE   CRUX   OF   FLETCHERISM 

point  and  in  the  right  manner,  no  soHd 
structure  of  Efficiency-Building  can  be 
secured.  Any  amount  of  indigestion, 
or  unnecessary  strain  put  upon  metab- 
olism, interferes  with  the  smooth  work- 
ing of  the  organism  in  the  same  way 
that  an  infinitesimal  weight  put  at  the 
tip  end  of  the  long  arm  of  a  lever  mul- 
tiplies the  burden  of  resistance  at  the 
short  end  many,  many  fold. 

Therefore,  the  Crux  of  Fletcherism 
is  found  in  first  training  the  muscular 
and  mental  apparatus  to  proceed  with 
thorough  deliberation  relative  to  every 
thing  taken  into  the  body;  for  from  this 
intake,  and  especially  from  the  manner 
of  the  handling  of  this  material  along 
the  line  of  the  alimentary  canal,  come 
efficiency  or  inefficiency. 

It  is  first  necessary  to  know  what  you 
want  the  muscles  to  habituate  them- 
selves to  doing  in  connection  with  nutri- 
tion. They  must  learn  to  know  what 
constitutes  a  true  appetite,  in  contradis- 
tinction to  indefiniteness  of  want  or  de- 

[175] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

sire.  The  muscles  will  soon  learn  to 
know  that  real  hunger  (body  need)  is 
not  expressed  by  any  uncomfortable 
feelings  below  the  guillotine  line.  Only 
in  the  head,  where  the  senses  are  all 
bunched  together  for  the  most  impor- 
tant team-work,  is  honest  hunger  sensed. 
We  may  rightly  add  to  the  list  of  the 
senses.  Appetite,  and  trust  it  with  con- 
fidence to  tell  us  what  the  body  can  use 
to  advantage  of  the  foods  available  at 
the  time.  That  the  foods  are  appetiz- 
ing is  the  only  recommendation  neces- 
sary to  a  set  of  muscles  trained  to  treat 
them  as  Nature  requires  when  they  en- 
ter the  laboratory  of  the  mouth. 

Connected  with  the  training  of  the 
mouth-muscle  outfit,  there  is  the  one 
standing  order.  Challenge  everything 
applying  for  entrance,  whether  by  spe- 
cial invitation  or  in  the  way  of  surprise, 
by  testing  it  for  taste-acceptability  at 
the  tip  of  the  tongue.  Then  keep  on 
tasting  and  testing,  with  reverential  ap- 
preciation of  the  gustatory  delight  there 

[176] 


THE    CRUX    OF    FLETCHERISM 

is  in  it,  in  the  full  knowledge  that  both 
digestion  and  assimilation,  which  are 
the  prime  necessities  of.  nutrition,  are 
healthfully  stimulated  by  accentuated 
enjoyment. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  intensively 
on  sensual  enjoyment  of  the  material 
being  automatically  handled  by  the 
methodical  muscles.  The  pleasant  sense 
sensations  surrounding  taste  may  serve 
as  an  accompaniment  to  agreeable  con- 
versation, to  the  delight  of  beauty  in  any' 
form,  to  flowers,  to  music,  to  graceful 
and  vivacious  femininity,  or  to  any  sort 
of  charm,  with  added  strength  given  to 
the  effect  on  wholesome  nutrition. 

So  much  for  the  usefulness  of  the 
mouth-muscles,  including  that  most 
wonderful  of  muscles,  the  tongue,  in  as- 
sisting in  the  healthful  stimulation  of 
nutrition.  Their  most  important  office 
is  to  stand  guard  against  the  contin- 
gencies that  are  liable  to  happen  which 
are  prejudicial  to  digestion.  If  there  is 
worry  in  the  atmosphere:  "Don't  let 
[177] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

anything  into  the  mouth  on  pain  of 
court-martial  and  suffering!''  Those 
are  the  "orders  of  the  day''  for  the  sen- 
tinel muscles  of  the  mouth,  serving  at 
the  outer  entrance  of  the  alimentary 
canal. 

In  the  category  of  "worry"  are  in- 
cluded anger,  argument,  blues,  or  any 
other  of  the  depressant  passions,  and  no 
food  or  drink,  other  than  water,  should 
be  admitted  to  the  canal  while  any  form 
of  depressants  are  being  suffered. 

We  must  agree  in  the  first  place  that 
it  can  do  no  harm  to  wait  for  a  clearance 
of  the  mental  atmosphere.  Real  hun- 
ger is  not  a  painful  craving  for  some- 
thing or  anything,  but  is  a  most  accom- 
modating waiter  for  final  collection  of 
all  the  taste  dividends  there  are  due  in 
a  big  lump  sum  to  compensate  for  not 
getting  them  by  instalments.  Conse- 
quently, if  the  mental  atmospheric  con- 
ditions are  not  favourable  to  the  best 
nutrition,  the  best  way  to  clear  them  is 
to  wait.     Nothing  is  so  forceful  in  mak- 

[178] 


THE    CRUX   OF    FLETCHERISM 

ing  one  modify  or  forget  passing  clouds 
of  pain  or  disappointment  as  growing 
healthy  Hunger. 

The  mouth-muscles  soon  learn  to 
know  this  beautiful  provision  of  Mother 
Nature,  whereby  deferred  collections 
by  appetite  are  paid  with  compound  in- 
terest sometimes  sure,  if  by  the  wait- 
ing process  the  mental  atmosphere  is 
cleared  of  the  elements  of  digestive 
lightning  and  thunder. 

How  delightful  it  is  to  be  assured 
that  the  best  way  to  secure  the  best  nu- 
trition is  the  easiest  way  and  that  it  can 
be  quickly  installed  as  a  habit,  so  that 
attention  to  the  mechanics  of  the  care  is 
not  necessary,  leaving  the  whole  battery 
of  appreciation  to  employ  itself  with  the 
gustatory  festival. 


[179] 


CHAPTER  XV 

FLETCHERISM  AND  VEGETARIANISM 

The  Danger  of  Excess  of  Protein — The  Use  of  Meat 
and  Uric  Acid — To  Sum  Up — Profitable  Economy 

In  the  warfare  against  the  ''Demons 
of  Dietetic  Disturbances''  most  of  the 
volunteer  recruits  go  into  the  camp  of 
the  MeakrSy  that  is,  they  become  vege- 
tarians, gwa.y^-vegetarians,  or  partial 
vegetarians,  and  array  themselves 
against  human  carnivorous  habits  and 
practices.  They  are  comparatively  few 
in  numbers,  but  make  up  in  enthusiasm 
what  they  lack  in  numerical  strength. 
Some  of  them  base  their  objection  to 
meat-eating  on  physiological  grounds, 
others  on  sentimental  susceptibility,  and 
yet  others  are  influenced  by  reasons  of 
economy. 

With  world-wide  and  centuries-old 
evidence  before  me  in  forming  an  opin- 
[i8o] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

ion,  I  say  without  hesitation  that  the 
weight  of  argument  is  in  favour  of  a 
meatless  diet  most,  if  not  all,  of  the  time, 
and  that  all  who  subsist  on  the  first-hand 
fruits  of  the  soil  and  do  not  resort  to 
cannibalism,  except  in  cases  of  emer- 
gency, are  on  the  safer  side. 

THE  DANGER  OF  EXCESS  OF  PROTEIN 

To  mention  the  greatest  danger  from 
using  meat  for  nutrition  first,  we  find  it 
almost  impossible  to  eat  most  meats 
without  taking  into  the  organism  more 
protein  (nitrogen)  than  is  required  for 
repair  of  the  broken-down  tissues;  and 
we  now  know  that  any  excess  of  protein 
or  nitrogen  imposed  upon  the  body  is 
not  good  for  it.  Large  excess  is  posi- 
tively deadly  in  its  final  effects,  and 
many,  if  not  all  of  the  so-called  uric- 
acid  troubles  or  diseases  are  traced  to 
such  abuse. 

Not  only  are  the  kidneys  worn  out 
long  before  their  time,  but  high  blood- 
pressure  is  one  of  the  baleful  results 
[i8i] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

that  lead  to  untimely  demise.  To  be 
sure,  persons  are  reported  to  have  lived 
to  near  or  quite  an  hundred  years  of  age 
as  habitual  meattvs,  but  their  occupa- 
tions or  activities  have  been  favourable 
to  burning  up  the  dregs  of  metabolism, 
and  the  belief  is  reasonable  that  if  they 
had  not  been  thus  self-abusing  during 
the  first  century  of  their  life  they  might 
have  gone  quite  a  piece  into  the  second 
century  with  their  matured  experience, 
example,  and  wisdom,  serving  the  world 
to  good  advantage. 

THE  USE  OF  MEAT 

That  meat  is  an  emergency  expedient 
in  the  natural  nutrition  of  man  is  pretty 
certain.  Strictly  speaking,  we  are  all 
of  us  subsisting  on  meat  all  of  the  time, 
but  it  is  only  one  degree  removed  from 
the  vegetable  kingdom,  when  we  ingest 
only  the  first  fruits  of  the  soil,  as  vege- 
tarians do,  and  make  meat  of  it  within 
us.     The  vegetable  nutriment  is  trans- 

[182] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

formed  into  our  own  flesh  and  blood  in 
the  form  of  fat  chiefly,  and  then  is  used 
to  furnish  whatever  heat  and  repair  ma- 
terial we  happen  to  need.  When  sec- 
ond-hand, already  dead  and  decompos- 
ing meat  is  eaten  and  thus  used  for  life- 
giving  purposes,  it  is  really  not  only 
second-hand  supply  but  third-hand  ma- 
terial. For  instance,  we  may  subsist 
exclusively  on  vegetable  or  farinaceous 
material  and  get  our  repair  or  fuel  sup- 
ply from  such  sources  only.  The  result 
IS,  in  part,  the  forming  of  the  walls  of 
our  own  stomach.  These  walls  are 
meat.  Should  we  turn  into  cannibals, 
devouring  each  other  as  the  Pacific  (?) 
Islanders  used  to  treat  missionaries  and 
enemies,  the  stomach  walls  become  tripe 
and  are  easily  digestible.  While  they 
were  live  walls,  holding  in  place  glands 
secreting  powerful  gastric  juice,  they 
resisted  the  digestive  aggression  of  their 
own  juice,  but  the  moment  they  were 
separated  from  their  own  living  com- 

[183] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

bination,  quite  similar  gastric  juice  di- 
gested them  as  quickly  as  it  does  the 
white  meat  of  a  pet  chicken.  It  is 
physiologically  possible  to  cut  out  a  part 
or  the  whole  of  our  own  stomach,  and 
then  devour  and  digest  it  as  tripe  in  the 
small  intestines. 

Hence  it  is  that  we  are  all  meaters, 
perforce,  but  not  all  of  us  are  third- 
degree-removed  cannibals.  What  we 
call  "pure  vegetarians"  are  only  second- 
hand meattrs, 

I  am  indebted  to  the  distinguished 
champion  tennis-player,  diet-reformer, 
and  restaurator  Eustace  Miles,  for  the 
name  "Meaters"  to  designate  those  who 
eat  meat;  and  I  have  coined  the  term 
"Mealers"  to  stand  for  those  who  take 
only  first-hand  earth-fruit  products  for 
their  nutrition,  disregarding  the  fact 
that  all  are  mealers  who  take  meals  of 
victuals.  To  offset  this  addition  to  the 
vocabulary,  it  would  do  no  harm  to  drop 
off  the  use  of  "Meals"  and  "Victuals," 
[184] 


FLETCHERISM    AND  VEGETARIANISM 

leaving  ''Mear'  to  mean  only  one  thing; 
viz.,  ground  cereals  or  vegetables.* 

One  of  the  details  of  carefulness  in 
Fletcherism  is  expressed  in  the  state- 
ment that  we  should  not  /proscribe  as 
food  anything  that  Nature  permits  to  be 
utilized  as  food;  but  the  same  careful- 
ness prescribes  that  we  do  not  prescrihQ 
it  as  food  for  everybody  all  of  the  time. 
Everything  in  its  proper  time  and  place 
IS  one  of  the  common-sense  rules  of  the 
system. 

Captain  Amundsen  and  his  comrades, 
as  I  have  already  observed,  were  quite 


*  It  is  not  outside  the  province  of  Fletcherism  to 
Fletcherize  our  vocabulary  and  make  it  as  single- 
meaning  as  possible  in  the  interest  of  simplicity.  The 
term  "  Fletcherize"  is  already  commonly  used  to 
suggest  analysis  and  digestion  of  crude  raw  material 
other  than  food,  and  has  come  into  use  in  literary 
circles  with  especial  usefulness.  Young  reporters  on 
newspapers  are  often  told  by  editors  to  take  their 
"copj"  in  hand  and  "Fletcherize"  it  before  handing 
it  in  for  printing.  Even  such  a  judicial  person  as 
Mayor  Gaynor,  of  New  York,  had  recourse  recently 
to  such  advice  relative  to  evidence,  but  he  called 
it  by  a  name  of  his  own  not  yet  in  common  use. 

[185] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

justified  in  devouring  their  faithful  and 
friendly  sledge  dogs  when  necessary  to 
preserve  their  own  lives.  I  have  the 
acquaintance  of  a  collie  dog  whom  I  love 
devotedly;  and  I  say  "whom"  appropri- 
ately because  he  is  as  intelligent  as  I  am, 
and  far  more  consistent  in  his  habits  of 
orderliness  and  naturalness.  He  is  a 
real  gentleman  at  all  times  and  as  good 
a  Fletcherite  when  the  food  substance 
and  occasion  demand  as  I  am.  He  has 
learned  to  eat  and  enjoy  apples  and  no 
one  could  give  more  careful  mouth- 
treatment  to  some  sorts  of  food  than 
Bruce.  I  am  sure  that  he  would  want 
me  to  eat  him  if  I  needed  him  to  pre- 
serve my  life,  just  as  unselfishly  as  the 
Japanese  soldiers,  and  more  recently  the 
Balkanese  soldiers,  gave  their  lives  for 
their  causes.  Whether  I  would  eat  him 
or  not  I  cannot  say,  and  I  do  not  know 
if  he  would  have  similar  consideration 
or  otherwise  for  me. 

I  merely  use  this  illustration  as  an 
aside  in  consideration  of  the  question  of 
[i86] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

flesh  eating  on  emergency  or  sentimen- 
tal grounds.  Nature  permits  Bruce 
and  me  to  eat  each  other,  and  if  we  man- 
aged it  skilfully  we  could  attack  each 
other's  extremities  at  the  same  time,  as 
long  as  we  did  not  encroach  on  our  vital 
machinery,  and  really  eat  each  other  up, 
as  young  lovers  would  like  to  do. 

Thus  much  for  sentiment.  We  are 
subsisting  on  ourselves  all  of  the  time; 
we  can  nourish  ourselves  at  the  expense 
of  each  other  if  we  will. 

We  can  eat  human  flesh  as  nourish- 
ingly  as  we  can  a  Spring  chicken,  and 
if  we  do  not  know  what  we  are  eating, 
Nature  will  say  us  never  ''No,''  but  there 
are  other  considerations  more  practical 
for  every-day  consideration.  These 
are :  physiological  and  economic  expedi- 
ency. 

MEAT  AND  URIC  ACID 

In  the  thorough  investigation  that  Dr. 
Hindhede,  of  Copenhagen,  has  con- 
ducted for  the  past  few  years,  and  in 

[187] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

which  I  have  assisted,  I  have  followed 
the  quest  with  eagerness  because  of  the 
thoroughness  of  it.  It  has  been  proven 
that  very  little  protein  or  nitrogen  is 
needed  for  the  human  body  even  under 
strain  of  hardest  physical  or  mental  ac- 
tivity. On  the  other  hand,  it  has  been 
found  that  any  appreciable  excess  of 
protein  or  nitrogen  results  in  both  uric 
acid  secretion  and  increased  blood-pres- 
sure, meaning,  in  all  probability,  finally 
fatal  strain  on  the  organism.  It  has 
also  been  demonstrated  that  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  take  the  leaner  meats 
without  getting  more  protein  or  nitro- 
gen than  the  body  needs. 

It  is  quite  easy  to  get  excessive  pro- 
tein and  nitrogen  from  vegetable,  far- 
inaceous, and  hen-fruit  material,  and 
cheeses  are  richer  than  anything  in  these 
"strong"  food  ingredients;  but  these 
are  not  such  subtle  foolers  of  the  appe- 
tite as  meats  done  up  in  spicy  gravies 
and  accompanied  by  appetising  fats. 

I  purposely  avoid  giving  any  figures 
[i88] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

relative  to  the  food  values  under  men- 
tion because  the  first  rule  of  Fletcher- 
ism  in  connection  with  the  selection  and 
intake  of  food  is  to  leave  that  entirely 
to  appetite,  working  intelligently  and 
normally  in  relation  to  the  food  that  is 
available  at  the  moment. 

To  my  thinking,  the  most  important 
consideration  is  economy,,  not  alone  o£ 
the  money  cost  of  food,  but  economy 
of  energy-consumption  within  the  body. 
There  may  be  times  when  economy  of 
money-cost  means  much  to  persons 
struggling  to  lay  aside  an  independent 
competency  for  the  purchase  of  leisure 
in  old  age,  or  for  insurance  against  be- 
coming a  burden  upon  others ;  and  this 
is  sure  to  happen  to  all  who  are  not 
cursed  by  the  handicap  of  money  in- 
heritance. But  it  is  the  internal  econ- 
omy of  the  body  that  counts  for  most 
in  estimating  values.  There  is  no 
doubt  but  what  flesh  food  is  a  stimu- 
lant of  the  same  or  similar  character  of 
alcohol.     Both  of  these  subtle  agents  of 

[189] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

intemperance  invite  the  starting  and  ac- 
cumulation of  vicious  cycles  or  circles 
(swirls)  of  over-stimulation  that  have 
one  bad  effect,  at  least,  on  the  comfort 
and  efficiency  of  the  muscular  tissues. 
They  facilitate  fatigue  and  "that  tired 
feeling,"  and  also  may  result  in  con- 
tingent "soreness"  of  muscle  after  un- 
usual exercise. 

Faithful  Fletcherizing  has  resulted 
in  regulating  these  matters  in  a  way 
that  is  nothing  less  than  marvellous  un- 
til the  reasons  are  revealed. 

Not  only  does  observance  of  the  habit 
and  practice  which  Mr.  Rockefeller  has 
condensed  into  thirty-three  words,  in- 
cluding several  repetitions  for  empha- 
sis, result  in  settling  the  questions  of 
appropriateness,  economy,  emergencies, 
and  comfort  in  general  between  the 
Meaters  and  the  Mealers;  between  the 
mixed  Meaters  and  Mealevs;  and  be- 
tween the  Physiology  and  Psychology 
of  normality;  and  which  Mr.  Rockefel- 
ler calls  "Fletcherizing,"  but  a  whole  lot 
[190] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

of  beneficent  cycles  or  circles  (rhythms) 
of  profitable  felicities  are  set  in  motion. 

TO  SUM  UP 

The  Mealers  have  the  advantage  of 
the  argument  in  that  they  are  always 
on  the  safer  side  of  prudence,  and  there 
is  no  real  deprivation  involved  in  the 
experiment. 

At  the  present  moment  I  am,  person- 
ally, still  in  the  experimental  field  as 
regards  everything  that  Nature  permits 
as  food  or  drink.  There  is  one  point 
that  vegetarianism  has  not  satisfactorily 
answered  as  yet.  The  great  majority 
of  conscientious  vegetarians  have  not 
the  pink  complexion  that  is  usually  reck- 
oned as  a  sign  of  beauty  or  robustness, 
but  I  have  known  one,  Frederick  Mad- 
sen  (Madsen  the  Faithful),  an  assistant 
of  Dr.  Hindhede  in  Copenhagen,  to  sub- 
sist on  potatoes  and  butter,  or  marga- 
rine, alone,  for  three  hundred  days  con- 
secutively, stopping  only  because  the 
potatoes  to  be  had  in  the  market  were 

[191] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

not  as  good  as  desired,  and  he  lost  none 
of  his  pinky-pinkness  of  complexion  of 
the  richest  Scandinavian  brilliancy.  I 
have  done  the  same  for  four  months 
with  similar  results  of  retention  of  pink- 
ness  of  complexion.  Another  question 
is:  Does  pinkness  indicate  health?  It 
is  not  the  necessity  of  health  among 
Latins  and  bronzed  Orientals,  but  it  un- 
derlies the  bronze  exterior  in  even 
African  Negroes,  if  they  are  healthy. 
Sallow  is  the  reverse  of  healthy  in  pro- 
portion to  the  sallowness,  as  a  usual 
thing. 

Just  here  is  where  the  efficacy  of  care- 
ful eating,  which  has  been  formulated 
as  Fletcherism,  comes  into  service  most 
agreeably  to  make  life  really  worth  liv- 
ing and  actually  one  continuous  festival 
of  usefulness  and  pleasure.  It  is  only 
once  formed  into  a  habit  and  set  to  work- 
ing automatically  under  the  direction  of 
Appetite,  Taste,  Feeling,  Instinct,  and 
the  other  attributes  of  sub-conscious  In- 
telligence. 

[192] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

It  will  be  noted  that  Mr.  Rockefeller, 
in  his  recent  pithy,  gisty  utterance  rela- 
tive to  the  merits  of  Fletcherizing, 
makes  no  mention  of  the  kind  of  food 
to  be  recommended.  Happily,  as  far 
as  I  know,  he  is  not  in  the  food  business, 
has  no  connection  with  any  special  food 
supply,  and  cannot  recommend  any  of 
the  products  of  petroleum  as  food  or 
drink.  He  should  be  absolutely  un- 
prejudiced in  his  judgment,  and  seven 
or  eight  years  of  recuperative  experi- 
ence, similar  to  mine  of  a  longer  period, 
is  material  for  judgment  and  recommen- 
dation. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  born  in  me 
the  ambition  to  formulate  the  rules  of 
economic  procedure  in  securing  optimum 
nutrition  in  a  space  of  not  more  than 
ten  pages  of  coarse  print  that  mothers, 
teachers,  and  children  of  primary  school 
age  could  understand  as  easy  as  the 
noses  on  their  faces.  Mr.  Rockefeller 
has  "beat  me  out''  in  brevity  by  several 
lengths.  He  has  made  the  revelation 
[193] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

with  the  lucky  number  of  thirty-three 
words,  and  left  room  for  a  final  remark 
full  of  scriptural  tone,  as  is  his  wont. 

PROFITABLE  ECONOMY 

There  is  one  argument  in  favour  of  a 
meatless  diet  that  appeals  to  everybody, 
and  that  is  the  economy  and  cleanliness 
of  it  In  Professor  Irving  Fisher's 
classic  investigation  to  test  the  merits 
of  Fletcherism  it  was  proven  that  care- 
ful attention  to  the  mastication,  insaliva- 
tion,  and  enjoyment  of  food  while  in  the 
mouth,  and  swallowing  only  in  response 
to  a  strong  invitation  to  swallow,  and 
removing  from  the  mouth  whatever  re- 
mainder that  did  not  practically  swallow 
itself,  a  net  gain  of  approximately  40 
per  cent,  was  achieved  without  any  at- 
tempt at  economy.  The  saving  was  in 
the  money  cost  alone,  and  it  came  from 
more  and  more  inclination  towards  far- 
inaceous and  vegetable  foods  and  away 
from  more  expensive  meat. 

This  form  of  saving  is  very  telling. 

[194] 


FLETCHERISM    AND   VEGETARIANISM 

Dr.  Francis  E.  Clark,  founder  and 
permanent  president  of  the  great  Inter- 
national Christian  Endeavour  organiza- 
tion, noticed  a  reduction  of  one-third  in 
the  food  expenses  of  his  family.  The 
health  officer  of  a  suburb  of  Hamburg 
accomplished  a  saving  of  two  thousand 
marks  a  year  in  his  family  of  three  with- 
out other  assistance  than  careful  eating 
and  an  inclination  towards  non-flesh 
food  material.  The  *Toor  White 
Trash"  community  in  America,  before 
mentioned,  saved  an  average  of  three 
dollars  a  month  each,  three  thousand 
dollars  a  month  among  a  thousand  mem- 
bers of  the  community,  and  the  mission- 
ary workers  who  taught  them  to  Fletch- 
erize  save  half  of  the  cost  of  their  sus- 
tenance. Accompanying  all  of  this 
wonderful  economy  was  an  immunity 
from  the  ordinary  illnesses  that  was 
worth  more  than  the  money  saving. 

In  the  Rockefeller  family  any  decrease 
in  the  cost  of  food  is  a  negligible  quan- 
tity in  comparison  with  the  total  ex- 

[195] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

penses,  but  seven  years  of  immunity 
from  indigestion  and  replacing  the 
demon  with  good  golf-health  form  have 
been  worth  more  than  millions  of  money. 


[196] 


APPENDIX 

WAS  LUIGI  CORNARO  RIGHT? 

A  PAPER   READ   BEFORE   THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL 

SECTION    OF    THE    BRITISH    MEDICAL 

ASSOCIATION,   AUGUST,    IQOI,   BY 

ERNEST  VAN  SOMEREN 

Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen: 

Being  a  general  practitioner,  it  is  with 
some  trepidation  and  an  apology  that  I  pre- 
sent myself  before  this  section.  The  rea- 
sons for  my  doing  so  are:  First,  that  I 
believe  that  a  hitherto  unsuspected  reflex 
in  deglutition  has  come  to  light  which  has 
an  important  bearing  on  health,  the  preven- 
tion of  disease  and  on  metabolism.  Second, 
that  any  theory  whatever,  based  on  a  possi- 
ble physiological  function,  claiming  to  dimin- 
ish, as  this  does,  the  amount  of  sickness 
and  suffering  now  existent,  should  have  seri- 
ous investigation.  Third,  that  I  desire  to 
enlist  your  skilled  help  in  the  consideration 

[197] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

of  the   theories   I   have   doubtless   crudely 
erected  on  my  premise. 

According  to  the  "Encyclopaedia  Britan- 
nica,"  "Luigi  Cornaro  (1467-1566)  was  a 
Venetian  nobleman,  famous  for  his  treatises 
on  a  temperate  life.  From  some  dishonesty 
on  the  part  of  his  relatives,  he  was  deprived 
of  his  rank  and  induced  to  retire  to  Padua, 
where  he  acquired  the  experience  in  regard 
to  food  and  regimen  which  he  has  detailed 
in  his  work.  In  his  youth  he  lived  freely, 
but  after  a  severe  illness  at  the  age  of  forty, 
he  began  under  medical  advice  gradually  to 
reduce  his  diet.  For  some  time  he  restricted 
himself  to  a  daily  allowance  of  12  ozs.  of 
solid  food  and  14  ozs.  of  wine.  Later  in 
life  he  still  farther  reduced  his  bill  of  fare, 
and  he  found  that  he  could  support  his  life 
and  strength  with  no  more  solid  meat  than 
an  egg  a  day.  So  much  habituated  did  he 
become  to  this  simple  diet  that  when  he  was 
about  seventy  years  of  age  the  addition,  by 
way  of  experiment,  of  2  ozs.  a  day  had 
nearly  proved  fatal.  At  the  age  of  eighty- 
three  he  wrote  his  treatise  on  the  *Sure  and 
Certain  Method  of  Attaining  a  Long  and 
Healthful  Life.'     And  this  work  was  fol- 

[198] 


APPENDIX 

lowed  by  three  others  on  the  same  subject, 
composed  at  the  ages  of  eighty-six,  ninety- 
one,  and  ninety-five,  respectively.  They 
are  written,'  says  Addison  (*  Spectator,' 
No.  195),  *with  such  a  spirit  of  cheerful- 
ness, religion,  and  good  sense,  as  are  the 
natural  concomitants  of  temperance,  and 
sobriety.'  He  died  at  the  age  of  ninety- 
eight."     Some  say  of  103 ! 

Now,  was  Luigi  Cornaro  right?  Did  he 
make  use  of  a  physiological  process  un- 
known to  us  of  the  value  of  which  he  was 
not  cognisant  ?  To  live  to  an  advanced  age, 
must  we  be  as  temperate  as  he,  reducing  the 
quantity  of  our  food  to  a  minimum  required 
by  Nature? 

That  we  all  eat  more  than  we  can  assimi- 
late is  unquestionable.  How  can  we  deter- 
mine the  right  quantity?  Instinct  should 
guide  us,  but  an  abnormal  appetite  often 
leads  us  astray.  Nature's  plans  are  perfect 
if  her  laws  are  obeyed.  Disease  follows 
disobedience.     Wherein  do  we  disobey? 

We  live  not  upon  what  we  eat,  but  upon 
what  we  digest ;  then  why  should  undigested 
food,  recognisable  as  such,  be  deemed  a  nor- 
mal constituent  of  our  solid  egesta? 

[199] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

Something  like  the  following  must  be  a 
common  experience  to  general  practitioners, 
especially  to  those  practising  on  the  Conti- 
nent. The  patient  comes  to  see  us  and  vol- 
unteers the  information  that  he  or  she  has 
the  "gout,"  "rheumatic  gout,'*  or  "dys- 
pepsia." Symptoms  are  asked  for.  The 
case  is  gone  into  carefully  for  causation. 
An  appropriate  diet  and  an  appropriate 
bottle  of  medicine  prescribed.  As  the 
patient  leaves  the  room,  we  may,  or  may 
not,  call  attention  to  the  fact  that 
both  teeth  and  saliva  are  meant  to  be 
used.  The  patient  returns,  better,  in  statu 
quo,  or  worse.  If  better,  he  remains  so 
while  under  treatment,  and  relapses 
when  he  returns  to  ordinary  habits.  If 
unaffected,  or  worse,  we  try  again  and 
again,  until  we  despair,  then  take  or  send 
him  to  a  consultant.  Temporary  benefit, 
possibly  owing  to  renewed  hope,  results ;  but 
finally  the  unfortunate  gets  used  to  his  suf- 
ferings, and,  if  he  can  afford  it,  is  sent  to 
join  the  innumerable  hosts  that  wander  from 
one  Bad  to  another,  all  Europe  over,  trying, 
praising,  and  damning  each  in  turn.  Their 
manner  of  living  is,  of  course,  at  fault. 
[200] 


m 


APPENDIX 

Nature  never  intended  that  man  should  be 
perpetually  on  a  special  diet  and  hugging  a 
bottle  of  medicine,  nor  did  she  ordain  that 
he  should  go  wandering  over  the  map  of 
Europe  drinking  purgative  and  other  waters. 

Though  early  yet  to  speak  with  certain 
voice,  it  would  seem  that  we  are  provided 
with  a  Guard,  reliance  on  which  protects 
us  from  the  results  of  mal-nutrition.  There 
seems  to  be  placed  in  the  fauces  and  the 
back  of  the  mouth  a  Monitor  to  warn  us 
what  we  ought  to  swallow  and  when  we 
ought  to  swallow  it.  The  good  offices  of 
this  Monitor  we  have  suppressed  by  habits 
of  too  rapid  eating,  acquired  in  infancy  or 
youth. 

Last  November  my  attention  was  called 
by  Mr.  Horace  Fletcher,  an  American  author 
living  in  Venice,  to  the  discovery  in  himself 
of  a  curious  inability  to  swallow,  and  a  clos- 
ing of  the  throat  against  food,  unless  it  had 
been  completely  masticated.  My  informant 
stated  that  he  noticed  this  peculiarity  after 
he  had  begun  to  excessively  insalivate  his 
food,  both  liquid  and  solid,  until  all  its 
original  taste  had  been  removed  from  it. 
Any  tasteless  residue  in  the  mouth,  being 
[201] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

refused  by  the  fauces,  required  a  forced 
muscular  effort  to  swallow.  He  further 
told  me  that  since  adopting  this  method  of 
eating  he  had  been  cured  of  two  maladies, 
adjudged  chronic,  the  suffering  from  which 
rendered  him  ineligible  for  Life  Insurance. 
His  weight  now  became  reduced  from  205 
lbs.  to  165  lbs.  He  had  practised  no  ab- 
stemiousness, had  indulged  his  appetite,  both 
as  to  selection  and  to  quantity,  without  re- 
straint, and  for  the  last  three  years  had  en- 
joyed perfect  health. 

After  his  cure,  he  was  accepted  without 
difficulty  for  insurance,  the  last  examina- 
tion finding  him  an  unusually  healthy  sub- 
ject for  his  age.  Having  leisure,  he  had 
spent  three  years  in  investigating  the  cause 
of  his  cure,  had  pursued  experiments  upon 
others,  and  had  extended  his  inquiries,  both 
in  America  and  Europe,  until  our  meeting 
in  Venice.  He  had  also  published  a  state- 
ment and  inquiry  in  book  form,  entitled 
"Glutton  or  Epicure,"  which  had  been  re- 
viewed by  the  "Lancet." 

For  nearly  a  year  I  also  had  been  experi- 
menting on  myself  and  others  with  various 
diets,  and  was  ready  to  believe  that  in  the 
[202] 


APPENDIX 

manner  of  taking  food  and  not  altogether 
in  its  varying  matter  lay  perhaps  its  pro- 
tean effects  on  our  system.  I  at  once 
adopted  the  same  method  of  eating.  At  the 
end  of  six  weeks,  I  noticed  that  not  only 
did  the  fauces  refuse  to  allow  of  the  passage 
of  imperfectly  prepared  food,  but  that  such 
food  was  returned  from  the  back  to  the 
front  of  the  mouth  by  an  involuntary, 
though  eventually  controllable,  muscular  ef- 
fort taking  place  in  the  reverse  direction  to 
that  occurring  at  the  inception  of  degluti- 
tion. 

What  actually  happens  is  this :  Food,  as 
it  is  masticated,  slowly  passes  to  the  back  of 
the  mouth,  and  collects  in  the  glosso-epi- 
glottidean  folds,  where  it  remains  in  contact 
with  the  mucous  membrane  containing  the 
sensory  end-organs  of  taste.  If  it  be  prop- 
erly reduced  by  the  saliva  it  is  allowed  to 
pass  the  fauces, — a  truly  involuntary  act 
of  deglutition  occurring.  Let  the  food, 
however,  be  too  rapidly  passed  back  to  these 
folds,  i.  e,,  before  complete  reduction  takes 
place,  and  the  reflex  muscular  movement 
above  referred  to  occurs.  The  process  of  this 
reflex  is  as  follows :  The  tip  of  the  tongue 
[203] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

is  involuntarily  fixed  at  the  backs  and  bases 
of  the  lower  central  incisor  teeth  by  the  an- 
terior fibres  of  the  geniohyoglossi  muscles. 
With  this  fixed  point  as  fulcrum,  the  lower 
and  middle  fibres  of  these  muscles,  aided  by 
those  of  the  stylohyoid  and  styloglossi  mus- 
cles raise  the  hyoid  bone,  straighten  out  the 
glosso-epiglottidean  folds,  passing  their  con- 
tents forward,  by  the  fauces,  the  opening 
of  which  is  closed  by  approximation  of  its 
pillars  and  contraction  of  the  superior  con- 
strictor. The  tongue,  arched  postero-an- 
teriorly  by  the  geniohyoglossi,  palato,  and 
styloglossi  muscles,  laterally,  by  its  own  in- 
trinsic muscles,  is  approximated  to  the 
fauces,  soft  and  hard  palates  in  turn,  and 
thus,  the  late  contents  of  the  glosso-epiglot- 
tidean folds  are  returned  to  the  front  of 
the  mouth  for  further  reduction  by  the 
saliva  preparatory  to  deglutition. 

The  word  reduction  is  used  for  the  reason 
that  all  foods  tested,  without  exception,  give 
an  acid  reaction  to  litmus,  when  served  at 
table.  The  reflex  muscular  movement  oc- 
curs in  the  writer's  case  from  five  to  ten 
times  during  the  mastication  of  each  mouth- 
ful of  food,  according  to  its  quantity  and 
[204] 


APPENDIX 

its  degree  of  sapidity.  As  often  as  it  recurs, 
the  returned  food  continues  to  give  an  acid 
reaction,  while  food  allowed  to  pass  the 
fauces  is  alkaline. 

Saliva,  flowing  in  response  to  the  stimu- 
lation of  taste,  seems  more  alkaline  than 
that  secreted  in  answer  to  mechanical  taste- 
less stimulation.  It  is  found  that  the  re- 
moval of  original  taste  from  any  given  bolus 
of  food  coincides  with  cessation  of  salivary 
flow  and  complete  alkaline  reduction.  The 
fibre  of  meat,  gristle,  connective  tissue,  the 
husk  of  coarse  bread  and  cellulose  of  vege- 
tables are  carefully  separated  by  the  tongue 
and  buccal  muscles  and  rejected  by  the 
fauces.  To  swallow  any  of  these  necessi- 
tates a  forced  muscular  effort,  which  is  ab- 
normal. 

Adult  man  was  not  originally  intended  to 
take  his  nourishment  in  a  liquid  form,  con- 
sequently all  liquids  having  taste,  such  as 
soup,  milk,  tea,  coffee,  cocoa,  and  the  vari- 
ous forms  of  alcohol,  must  be  treated  as 
sapid  solids  and  insalivated  by  holding  them 
in  the  mouth,  moving  the  tongue  gently,  with 
straight  up  and  down  masticatory  move- 
ments, until  their  taste  be  removed.     Water, 

[205] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

not  having  taste,  needs  no  insalivation  and 
is  readily  accepted  by  the  fauces. 

In  explanation  of  the  phenomenon  de- 
scribed, the  following  theory  is  advanced: 
The  fauces  back  of  the  tongue,  epiglottis,  in 
short,  those  mucous  surfaces  in  which  are 
placed  the  sensory  end-organs  of  taste  and 
"taste  buds"  (the  distribution  of  which,  by 
the  way,  has  yet  to  be  explained),  that  these 
surfaces,  readily  becoming  accustomed  to 
an  alkaline  contact  by  excessive  insalivation 
and  consequent  complete  alkaline  reduction 
of  the  food,  afterwards  resent  an  acid  con- 
tact and  express  their  resentment  by  throw- 
ing off  the  cause  of  offence  by  the  muscles 
underlying  them. 

This  phenomenon  must  not  be  confused 
with  the  cases  of  rumination  and  regurgita- 
tion, which  from  time  to  time  are  recorded. 
The  food  in  this  case  is  not  swallowed,  nor 
does  it  pass  any  point  from  which  it  can  be 
regurgitated.  Eighty-one  individuals  of 
different  nationalities  and  from  several 
classes  of  society  whom  we  have  studied  are 
now  in  conscious  possession  of  their  reflexes. 
These  seem  readily  educated  back  to  nor- 
[206] 


APPENDIX 

mal  functions  by  all  who  seriously  and 
patiently  adopt  the  habit  of  what  seems  only 
at  first  to  be  excessive  insalivation. 

The  dictum  "bite  your  food  well"  that 
we  so  often  use,  has  no  meaning  to  those 
suffering  from  the  results  of  mal-assimila- 
tion  and  mal-nutrition,  especially  should 
they  have  few  or  no  teeth  of  their  own.  I 
make  so  bold  as  to  state  that  dyspepsia  et 
morbi  hujus  generis  omnis  will  cease  to 
exist  if  patients  be  persuaded  to  bite  their 
food  until  its  original  taste  disappears,  and 
it  is  carried  away  by  involuntary  degluti- 
tion. 

The  important  point  of  the  whole  ques- 
tion seems  to  be  this  alkaline  reduction  of 
of  acid  food  before  it  passes  on  to  meet 
subsequent  digestive  processes  elsewhere, 
which  then  become  alternately  acid  and  al- 
kaline. 

In  the  first  few  months  of  infant  life, 
when  saliva  is  not  secreted,  Nature  ordains 
that  mammary  secretion  be  alkaline.  With 
the  eruption  of  teeth  come  an  abundant  flow 
of  saliva  and  a  synchronous  infantile  capac- 
ity for  managing  other  foods.  This  flow  of 
[207] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

saliva  depends  on  a  thorough  demand  and 
use  to  maintain  its  generous  supply.  It  is 
just  at  this  time  that  children  learn  to  bolt 
their  food, — the  demand  fails,  with  a  con- 
sequent detriment  to  the  salivary  glands, 
digestive  processes,  and  the  system  gener- 
ally. 

A,  B,  C,  and  D  v^ere  placed  on  an  abso- 
lute milk  diet.  A  drank  his  milk  in  the 
ordinary  v^ay,  and  at  the  end  of  three  days 
begged  to  discontinue  the  experiment  owing 
to  disgust  at  the  monotony  of  the  diet.  B, 
C,  and  D  continued  the  experiment  for  sev- 
enteen days,  insalivating  the  milk,  but  to  a 
varying  extent,  B  the  least  and  D  the  most. 
Though  D  took  most  milk,  he  excreted  least 
solid  egesta,  C  excreting  less  than  B.  Can 
one  infer  that  increased  insalivation  of  a 
non-starchy  food  insured  its  better  digestion 
and  assimilation?  Each  subject  took  as 
much  milk  only  as  his  appetite  demanded, 
D  taking  the  most,  which  never  exceeded 
two  litres  daily.  The  weights  of  the  sub- 
jects after  the  usual  sudden  drop  of  the  first 
three  days  remained  remarkably  even  until 
the  end  of  the  experiment.  B,  C,  and  D 
all  relished  the  diet,  and  it  satisfied  the  re- 
[208] 


APPENDIX 

quirements  of  their  appetites,  but  they  ex- 
perienced an  increasing  monotony. 

As  long  ago  as  the  seventeenth  century, 
before  the  transformation  of  matter  into 
energy  by  the  animal  organism,  known  as 
Metabolism,  was  understood,  the  fact  was 
recognised  that  by  the  lungs,  kidneys,  skin, 
and  intestines,  substances  no  longer  useful 
to  the  organism  were  eliminated,  the  reten- 
tion of  which  proved  harmful.  The  nature 
of  these  substances  was  unknown,  but  it 
was  noted  that  however  much  the  food  was 
increased  the  weight  of  the  body  remained 
the  same.  In  other  words,  a  state  of  com- 
plete nutritive  equilibrium  was  maintained. 

The  following  table  contains  the  resume 
of  two  experiments  in  which  a  state  of  com- 
plete nutritive  equilibrium  was  maintained 
by  individuals  of  about  the  same  weight,  on 
widely  different  quantities  of  food  similar 
in  quality.  The  subjects  of  the  experiments 
were  a  laboratory  assistant  of  Dr.  Snyder, 
of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  and 
the  writer.  The  experiment  of  the  former 
was  made  primarily  to  show  the  relative 
digestibility  of  the  several  articles  of  diet, 
potatoes,  eggs,  milk,  and  cream : 
[209] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 


Dr.  Snyder's 

Experiment. 
Published  in 

Writer's  Experiment- 

Bulletin  4} 

Age    of   subject        .      . 

22  years 

30  years 

Duration  of  experiment 

4  1-3  days 

5  days 

Number  of  meals    . 

13 

10 

Weight   at   beginning    . 
Weight  at  end   .      .      . 

62.5     kilos 

57.3  kilos 

62.6     kilos 

57.5  kilos 

Potatoes  (daily  average) 

1587.6  grammes 

159.4  grammes 

Eggs    (daily  average)    . 

411.08  grammes 

124.7  grammes 

Milk    (daily    average)  . 

710  c.c. 

710  c.c. 

Cream    (daily    average) 

2Z7  C.C. 

237  c.c. 

Daily  urine    .... 

1 1 08  grammes 

1098     grammes 

Daily  faeces   .... 

204  grammes 

18.9  grammes 

The  daily  diet  of  Dr.  Snyder's  subject 
consisted  of  three  and  one-half  pounds  of 
potatoes,  eight  eggs,  a  pint  and  a  half  of 
milk,  and  half  a  pint  of  cream.  The  writ- 
er's diet  of  twelve  ounces  of  solid  food  (like 
Luigi  Cornaro)  consisted  of  three  eggs,  the 
remainder  of  the  twelve  ounces  in  potatoes, 
and  an  equal  quantity  of  similar  liquid  food 
to  that  taken  by  Dr.  Snyder's  subject.  The 
exercise  of  the  laboratory  assistant  com- 
prised his  daily  routine  of  laboratory  work, 
while  that  of  the  writer  consisted  of  six 
sets  of  tennis,  or  an  hour  and  a  half  on 
horseback,  with  an  hour  to  an  hour  and  a 
half's  walk  or  climb  daily,  in  addition  to 
much  reading  and  writing. 

In  each  case  complete  nutritive  equilib- 
[210] 


APPENDIX 

rium  was  maintained,  although  the  author 
subsisted  on  three-seventeenths  of  the  solid 
food  taken  by  the  other  subject. 

Again,  cannot  one  infer  that  better  assimi- 
lation and  less  waste  resulted  from  the  better 
preparation  of  the  smaller  quantity  of  food 
by  insalivation  ?  Surely,  too,  there  must  be 
less  daily  strain  on  the  intestinal  canal,  and 
body  generally,  in  getting  rid  of  18.9 
grammes  of  inoffensive  dry  waste,  than  in 
getting  rid  of  204  grammes  of  humid,  de- 
composing, and  offensive  matter. 

"Considerable  importance  has  been  at- 
tached to  the  normal  action  of  the  bacteria 
in  the  intestines;  and  it  has  even  been  sup- 
posed that  the  presence  of  bacteria  is  essen- 
tial to  life.  Such  a  view  has  recently  been 
shown  to  be  erroneous  by  an  elaborate  and 
painstaking  research  carried  out  by  Nuttall 
and  Thierfelder,  who  obtained  ripe  foetal 
guinea-pigs  by  means  of  Csesarean  section 
carried  out  under  strict  antiseptic  precau- 
tions. They  introduced  the  animals  imme- 
diately into  an  asceptic  chamber  through 
which  a  current  of  filtered  air  was  aspirated, 
and  fed  them  hourly  on  sterilised  milk  day 
and  night  for  over  eight  days. 

[211] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

"The  animals  lived,  and  throve,  and  in- 
creased as  much  in  weight  as  healthy  normal 
animals  subjected  to  a  similar  diet  for  the 
purpose  of  controlling  the  results.  Micro- 
scopic examination  at  the  end  of  the  experi- 
ment showed  that  the  alimentary  canal  con- 
tained no  bacteria  of  any  kind,  nor  could 
cultures  of  any  kind  be  obtained  from  it. 

"The  same  authors,  in  a  subsequent  pa- 
per, described  the  extension  of  their  research 
to  vegetable  food.  This  was  also  digested 
in  the  absence  of  bacteria.  Under  such 
conditions  cellulose  was  not  attacked. 
Hence  they  consider  that  the  chief  function 
of  this  material  is  to  give  bulk  and  proper 
consistency  to  the  food  so  as  to  suit 
the  conditions  of  herbiverous  digestion." 
(Schafer's  "Text-Book  of  Physiology,"  vol. 
i.,  p.  465.) 

Now,  inasmuch  as  bacterial  digestion  has 
no  place  in  the  animal  economy,  surely  it 
can  only  occur  at  the  expense  of  the  organ- 
ism? 

Can  micro-organic  action  take  place  in  the 
intestines  without  the  production  of  toxins 
and  the  consequent  absorption  of  these  tox- 
ins into  the  blood  ? 

[212] 


APPENDIX 

We  know  that  the  metabolism  of  a  cell  is 
determined  by  the  general  physical  environ- 
ment of  the  whole  organism,  by  supplies  of 
oxygen  and  water,  on  nervous  impulses, 
and,  what  chiefly  concerns  this  argument,  on 
the  nature  and  amount  of  the  pabulum  sup- 
plied to  it.  This  pabulum  is  derived  from 
the  alimentary  canal. 

Are  not  even  those  of  us  who  may  be 
enjoying  seemingly  the  best  of  health  sup- 
plying to  our  tissues  pabulum  containing 
mild  toxins,  thus  causing  an  increased  kata- 
bolic  action  to  occur  in  each  individual  cell 
of  our  bodies? 

Are  not  the  blood  elements,  floating  in  a 
plasma  containing  such  toxins,  rendered  re- 
sistent,  weaker,  less  capable  of  fulfilling 
their  functions  as  carriers  and  combatants 
of  disease  ? 

Are  not  their  and  our  lives,  in  conse- 
quence, more  painful  and  shorter  than  they 
need  be  ? 

Would  not  the  elimination  of  these  toxins 
render  us  less  liable  to  disease  ?  And  is  not 
their  presence  an  important  element  in  pre- 
disposition to  disease? 

When  this  reflex  is  restored  micro-organ- 

[213] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

isms  get  no  further  than  the  stomach.  They 
are  destroyed  there  by  the  acid  gastric  juices, 
then  only  stimulated  to  their  full  and  normal 
secretion  by  the  presence  of  a  sufficiency  of 
alkaline  substance.  Undigested  matter  hav- 
ing been  eliminated,  micro-organisms,  still 
existing  in  the  intestines,  deprived  of  their 
means  of  subsistence,  decrease,  and,  in 
time,  may  cease  to  exist.  The  body  no 
longer  absorbs  the  toxins  these  produced. 
To  this  fact  may  be  ascribed  the  increase  of 
mental  energy,  the  general  physical  better- 
ment, the  cessation  of  morbid  cravings  for 
food  and  drink  and  of  those  of  a  sexual 
nature,  which  are  noticed  and  experienced. 

What  has  just  been  stated  is  based  not 
entirely  on  experimental  evidence  but  some- 
what upon  inference.  The  inference  seems 
justified  because  the  excreta,  more  espe- 
cially of  the  intestines,  but  also  of  the  kid- 
neys and  skin,  become  almost  odourless  and 
entirely  inoffensive.  The  solid  egesta  are 
voided  thickly  covered  with  mucus,  leaving 
the  end  of  the  bowel  dry  and  clean.  The 
sense  of  cleanliness  can  only  then  be  appre- 
ciated to  the  full,  for  it  is  internal  as  well 
as  external.     Flatus  is  no  longer  produced. 

[214] 


APPENDIX 

The  urine  is  inoffensive  and  seems  to  be  ma- 
terially changed  in  quality,  as  shown  by 
chemical  analysis.  Uric  acid,  the  chlorides, 
and,  more  markedly,  aromatic  sulphates  are 
reduced  in  quantity. 

Owing  to  deliberation  in  eating,  necessi- 
tated by  this  new  habit,  satiety  occurs  on 
the  ingestion  of  considerably  less  food.  By 
carefully  studying  one's  self  I  believe  it 
possible  to  cultivate  an  instinct  which  will 
regulate  not  only  the  quantity  but  the  quality 
of  food  that  the  body  may  need,  and  that  in 
the  normal  health  of  a  full-grown  body,  no 
more  food  either  in  quantity  or  quality 
should  be  supplied  than  suffices  to  supply 
diurnal  waste.  Any  excess  must  result  in 
pathological  processes. 

Although  there  results  enhanced  pleasure 
in  the  taking  of  all  foods,  rich  and  simple, 
and  especially  in  the  appreciation  of  good 
wines,  the  quantities  of  these  foods  and 
beverages  that  suffice  to  fully  satisfy  the 
appetite  are  much  smaller  than  before,  while 
there  is  a  marked  preference  for  the  simpler 
kinds  of  food.  The  writer  now  can  im- 
agine no  more  pleasurable  meal  than  one 
consisting  of  good  brown  bread,  eggs,  but- 

[215] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

ter,  cheese,  and  cream.  These,  with  fresh 
vegetables  and  a  very  little  fruit,  form  his 
staple  diet.  This  tendency  and  preference 
for  simple  foods  is  the  general  experience 
among  those  who  have  recovered  their  re- 
flexes of  deglutition. 

Following  on  the  ingestion  of  a  lessened 
quantity  of  food  and  on  its  better  assimila- 
tion, there  is  less  waste,  the  egesta  are 
voided  less  frequently,  sometimes  only  once 
in  five  to  eight  days. 

The  lower  bowel  is  not  the  reservoir  it 
formerly  was.  So  haemorrhoids  cease  from 
troubling  and  constipation  cannot  exist. 
For  this  same  reason  the  body,  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  practice,  commences  to  approxi- 
mate to  its  normal  weight,  increasing  or 
decreasing  as  the  individual's  environment 
demands. 

A  few  more  words  only  need  be  said.  It 
has  been  easy  to  state  the  results  of  experi- 
ments and  observations:  but  the  acquiring 
of  this  new  reflex,  while  pursuing  daily  oc- 
cupations, is  not  easy,  and  needs  more  than 
a  little  patience  and  much  serious  thought. 
The  habits  of  a  lifetime  cannot  be  changed 
in  a  few  days  or  weeks.     The  shortest  time 

[216] 


APPENDIX 

in  which  the  reflex  has  been  re-established 
is  four  weeks,  and  this  only  by  avoiding 
conversation  at  meal-time  and  concentrating 
the  attention  on  keeping  the  food  in  the 
mouth  until  complete  alkaline  reduction  has 
taken  place  and  sapidity  has  disappeared. 

In  closing  I  wish  to  maintain  as  a  fact, 
gentlemen,  of  the  truth  of  which  you  will 
only  be  convinced  by  actual  experience,  that 
by  the  restoration  of  this  reflex  and  in  com- 
plete dependence  on  its  use,  there  lies  true 
health,  the  establishment  of  a  condition  of 
stable  nutrition  and  the  possible  abrogation 
of  two  great  predisposing  factors  of  disease, 
mal-assimilation  and  mal-nutrition.  Unless 
there  be  among  you,  as  in  the  "Cities  of 
the  Plain,"  a  parlous  minority  who  possess 
this  reflex  and  take  your  food  as  you  ought, 
none  of  you  are  in  the  enjoyment  of  such 
health  as  you  might  have.  A  like  punish- 
ment will  be  meted  out  to  you  as  was  visited 
on  those  cities,  for  you  will  all  be  consumed 
long  before  your  day  by  the  unnecessary 
combustion  in  your  bodies  caused  by  the 
circulation  in  them  of  toxins,  the  product  of 
undigested  and  decomposing  food. 

The  writer,  bearing  in  mind  the  warning 
[217] 


fletcherism:  what  it  is 

suggested  by  the  Frenchman  whose  donkey 
died  as  soon  as  he  had  reduced  his  food  to 
a  single  wisp  of  straw,  finds  that  he  is  tak- 
ing less  and  less  food.  While  his  mind 
is  open  as  to  his  arriving  at  the  final  diet 
of  Luigi  Cornaro,  yet  it  is  easily  conceiva- 
ble that  living  a  similar  life  of  retirement  in 
a  placid  environment,  it  would  be  quite  pos- 
sible to  do  as  he  did.  Hence  the  title  of 
this  paper  and  the  queries  at  the  commence- 
ment. 

The  objects  in  publishing  and  distributing 
this  paper  are  twofold :  to  make  the  subject 
as  widely  known  as  possible,  and  to  solicit 
the  aid  of  colleagues  in  investigating  it  more 
fully. 

There  is  ready  at  the  service  of  the  gen- 
eral practitioner  an  important  and  potential 
therapeutic  agent  in  the  saliva  of  his  patients 
and  in  the  use  ad  Unern  of  their  salivary 
digestions. 

Editor^ s  notes,  (i)  Confirmatory  evi- 
dence of  the  correctness  of  the  deductions 
made  in  this  paper  has  begun  to  come  in 
from  many  professional  sources  and  notably 
from  a  famous  child  specialist  who  avers 

[218] 


APPENDIX 

that  children  would  follow  the  natural  re- 
quirements in  eating  were  it  not  for  arti- 
ficial food,  bad  example,  and  bad  teaching. 

(2)  In  a  report  of  a  paper  read  before 
the  Societe  de  Biologie,  Paris,  France, 
March  15th,  1902,  by  M.  Max  Marckwald, 
of  Kreuznach,  "On  Digestion  of  Milk  in 
THE  Stomach  of  Full-grown  Dogs," 
the  following  appears:  "Hence  these  ex- 
periments confirm  those  of  Horace  Fletcher 
and  Ernest  H.  Van  Someren  on  the  impor- 
tance of  prolonged  mastication"  {transla- 
tion). Referring,  as  the  latter  statement 
does,  to  mastication  (insalivation)  of  liquid, 
it  gives  an  important  suggestion  relative  to 
some  probable  causes  of  uncertain  or  de- 
fective digestion  in  human  nutrition. 


[219] 


INDEX 


Abstinence,  long  absti- 
nence from  food  harm- 
less, 20,  133 

Aggressive  hospitality, 
118 

Alcohol,  the  abuse  of, 
135,  140 

Alcoholic   stimulant,   145 

Amundsen,    Captain,    185 

Anderson,  Doctor  W.  G., 
18;  begins  Fletcheriz- 
ing,  23;  at  Yale  test, 
24,  et  seq.,  143 

Appetite,  6;  wait  for  a 
true,  10;  selects  sim- 
plest foods,  36,  136;  is 
true  hunger,  52;  rest- 
ing the,  56 

Atwater,  Piofessor,  12; 
his  diet  standard,   no 

B 

Bacterial  Decomposi- 
tion, 58 

Battle  Creek  Sanatorium, 
experiments  on  mem- 
bers, 21 

Beer,  how  to  take,  60,  121 

Bowditch,  Doctor  H.  P., 

15,  125 
Bradefagy,  65 
Business  men  and  Fletch- 

erism,  41,  43 


[221] 


Calorie,  the  heat  unit,  61 

Calorimeter,  61 

Cannon,  Doctor,  81,  125 

Carbo-hydrates  in  human 
diet,  61 

Chanute,  124 

Chewing,  and  Fletcher- 
ism,  66;  Mr.  Gladstone 
on,  67 

Chittenden,  Professor, 
visited  by  Mr.  Fletch- 
er, 16;  volunteers  to 
experiment,  18 ;  on 
careful  chewing,  85  et 
seq.;  on  head  diges- 
tion, 83 

Christian  Endeavour  So- 
ciety, 44 

Circumvalate  papillae,  9 

Cornaro,  Luigi,  118 


Decency    and    Fletcher- 
ism,  126 
Delirium  tremens,  a  cure, 

J53 
Diet,    prejudice    against 

unaccustomed,  94 
Diet    standard,    the   best 

suited  to  economy  and 

efficiency,    60 ;    Voit's, 

109 


INDEX 


Dietetic  righteousness, 
the  Gospel  of,  50,  128, 
et  seq. 

Digestion-ash,  the,  58,  59, 
93 

Dow,  Hon.  A.  G.,  49 


Economy  of  Fletcherism, 
41 

Emerson,  129 

Endurance  tests :  Irving 
Fisher's,  21 ;  Granger's 
and  Wagner's,  21-22; 
Mr.  Fletcher's  at  Yale, 
24  et  seq. 

Epicure,  the  true,  47 

Excess  of  food,  difficulty 
of  getting  rid  of,  38; 
ferrnentation  of,  47 

Experiments :  Someren, 
13 ;  Yale  University, 
16;  Chittenden,  18;  U. 
S.  Army,  19;  Irving 
Fisher's,  98;  Seventh- 
Day  Adventists,  151 


Fasting,  the  value  of, 
170 

Fat,  putting  on,  70 ;  Doc- 
tor Anderson  on,  137 

Fats   in  human   diet,   61 

Fermentation  of  undi- 
gested food,  47 

Fisher,  Professor  Irving, 
endurance  tests,  21 ; 
his  endurance-testing- 
machine,  26 ;  experi- 
ments with  students,  98 

Fletcher,  Horace,  refused 
by  insurance  company 


as  poor  risk,  2 ;  at  Gal- 
veston, Texas,  3;  dis- 
covery of  the  mouth 
food-filter,  6;  in  the 
Philippines,  112;  deliv- 
ers address  before  New 
York  Academy  of  Med- 
icine, 128;  at  the  Buf- 
falo Club,  147 

Fletcherism,  its  five  prin- 
ciples, 10;  and  house- 
wives, 41 ;  economy  of, 
43;  and  long  life,  49, 
118;  and  muscularity, 
III;  and  companion- 
ship, 123;  as  first  aid, 
155. 

Fletchente,  the  diction- 
ary definition,   116 

Food-filter,  our,  what  it 
is,  6 ;  using  it  properly, 
35,  66 

Foster,  Sir  Michael,  in- 
terested in  Fletcherism, 
13;  organises  tests  at 
Cambridge  University, 
13 

Fruit,  how  to  eat,  59 


Gladstone,  his  theory  of 
mastication,  4,  67;  as 
Fletcherite,  7 

Gluttony  and  avoirdu- 
pois, 161 

Granger,  J.  H.,  21 

Grape-sugar,  69 

H 

Head  digestion,  ys  ^'  ^^Q' 


1222} 


Higgins,    Father,   on   al 
coholic  stimulants,  44 


INDEX 


Hindhede,  Doctor,  102, 
187,  191 

Hookins,  Professor  F.  G., 
conducts  tests  at  Cam- 
bridge University,  15 

Hospitality,  aggressive, 
118 

Housewives  and  Fletch- 
erism,  41 

Human  diet,  the  organic 
materials  of,  60 

Hunger,  what  is,  51 

Hunger-habit,  40 

Hutchinson,  Doctor,  73 


Intemperance,  overcome 
by  Fletcherism,  45,  141, 

,153. 

Intestmal  toxication,  42 


Japan,  2,  94 
Java,  diet  in,  95 


K 

Kellog,  Doctor,  45;  test 
at  Tennessee  Institute, 

151 
Konig,  Professor,  no 


Leonardi,  Professor,  in 
co-operation  with  Doc- 
tor Van  Someren,  13 

Liquids,  Fletcherising, 
120 


M 

Mastication,  what  hap- 
pens during,  7;  Fletch- 
erism not  excessive,  64 
Meals,  choosing,  32 ;  how 
many  a  day,  z7  \  chos- 
en by  appetite,  54 
Meat  and  Uric  Acid,  187 
Mendel,  Professor,  18 
Milk,   as    food   material, 
32,   102;  how  to  take, 
60,  121 
Mineral  waters,  121 
Morbid  cravings,  150 
Mouth   digestion,   73,   76 
Mouth    during    mastica- 
tion, 7 
Muscularity  and  Fletch- 
erism, III 

N 

National  Food  Reform 
Association,  64 

Nitrogen,  61 

Nutrition,  the  best  safe- 
guard to  right,  48 


Optimum  economic  nu- 
trition, 63,  107 

Organic  materials  of  hu- 
man diet,  the,  60 


P 

Professor, 


57, 


Pawlow, 

74,  125 
Peristalsis   and  fruit,   59 
Potato,      the,      nutritive 

value  of,  103 
Proteids,  the,  60 


[223] 


INDEX 


Protein  enthusiast,  the, 
io8;  the  danger  of  ex- 
cess of,  i8i 


Responsibility  in  nutri- 
tion, our  personal,  5, 
80,  96 

Rockefeller,  J.  D.,  xi, 
190,  193  et  seq. 

Roosevelt,   President,   19 

Root,  Secretary,  19 


Saliva,  chemical  trans- 
formatipn  of  food  by, 
8;  wait  for  profuse 
flow,  52,  62;  action  on 
starch  foods,  68 
Scott,  Captain,  108 
Seventh-Day  Adventists, 

151 
Someren,     Doctor    Van, 
first  experiments  with, 

13 
Soup,  how  to  take,  60 
Stagg,  Alonzo  B.,  21 
Starch   foods,    action   of 

saliva,  68 
Stomach,  digestive  proc- 
esses in,  74 
Swallowing    impulse,    9, 

57 
Swallowing  sense,  140 


Taste,  getting  the  best 
out  of  food,  10;  the 
test  of,  91 ;  and  liquids, 
121 

Taste-buds,  the,  7 


Tea,  how  to  take  it,  59 
Temperance  and  Fletch- 

erism,  138,  149 
Tests.     See  Experiments 

and  Endurance  tests. 
Tramps  and  Fletcherism, 

138 

U 

Uric  Acid  and  Meat,  187 
U.  S.  Army,  instructions 
to,  57 


Vegetarianism  and 
Fletcherism,  180 

Voit,  Carl,  his  diet  stand- 
ard, 109 

W 

Wagner,  Doctor,  22 
Wine,  how  to  take,  60 
Wine-tasters,  profession- 
al, 147 
Wood,  General,  19 
Wright     Brothers,     the, 
124 


Yale  University,  experi- 
ments at,  IS 

Y.  M.  C.  A.  Training 
School,  Springfield, 
test  at,  29 


Zuntz,    Doctor    Profes- 
sor, 78 


[224] 


581927 


3   1378  00581   9274 


Date  Due 

■:i 

14 

DAY 

r\  f\    inort 

JAN 

3  U  1980 

6Ct 

li  R  H  £  D 

Kir  ■ 

JAM 

22  1390 

PFT 

URNED 

K  t  • 

JUL 

a  i  1986 

1 

74 

Aa%# 

ii  A  ■ . 

^■'^r: 

NOV  , 

JO  ISI/ 

RFTll 

9MPD 

f 

DEC  - 

1  isyi 

QP141  Fletcher,  H. 

F62      FLetcherism,  wfiat 


D2892 
it  is. 


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